The Messenger
by Lily Hanson
Summary: The fight is far from over.
1. New Arrivals

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers Megaforce. This story is fan-made._

_Author's Note: This is not where the Megaforce series starts. If you want to read the series without getting lost, I suggest you read my stories in the order they appear:_

_**No To Date Nights - The Party Night - Project Partners - Megaforce: Lives Behind The Masks - **__**Prom Night**__ - __**A Trip To Remember - First Meetings - Something She Loves – Protective Morans – Samurai In Harwood County – Rainy Days – Luck Had Nothing To Do With It – Ranger Support – Parents and Children – Hero Without The Spandex – Emma's Night – Emma's Mother – Bait And Switch – After Death – A Stormy Day – A Date For Tensou – A Mother's Advice – Mending Fences – Executioner Named Revenge –Those Three Words – On The Fourth Day – Babysitting – Tiger- A Fresh Start – On the Mountains – Looking Ahead – The Rangers' Recovery – Daughter's Nightmare – Megaforce: With Great Power –Cookies – The Babysitters: Jake and Gia – Better Off With The Burrows**_ – _**A Hard Journey**_

Gia was out on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. It was just on the outskirts of Harwood County, though many considered the beach below to belong to the city.

She was alone as she looked out to the sea, and despite the peaceful surroundings she had a lot on her mind.

"Hey," she heard a voice but didn't need to turn around. She knew it was Troy. She had called him here. He took a seat next to her. "What's up?"

"How's Rebecca doing?"

It had been a few days since Rebecca had learned her father was dead. After she scared everyone by running off, she had come home and was finally settled in with her new family. Troy's parents were keeping busy with her, between meetings with child services and their lawyers, as well as driving Rebecca to and from grief counselling. Fortunately, it all seemed to be helping. In spite of everything she had been through, there was a little light coming back in her eyes, and Rebecca was starting to return to the fun, sometimes overly curious but very kind little sister the Rangers all knew and loved.

"She's doing great. Nights are hard still."

"They will be for a long time," Gia said. "Just stay with her, and get a nightlight."

"We got one for her already," Troy chuckled. "You'll be happy to hear she insisted on a yellow Ranger light when she heard the red sold out."

"Obviously. Yellow's amazing."

"Second to red."

"She wanted yellow, she just didn't want to hurt your feelings," Gia teased. Troy nudged her gently.

"So what did you want to talk about? I doubt you called me all the way out here to get an update on my sister."

"I've been having dreams lately," Gia said and turned to look at Troy. His face was serious and surprised when he heard what she said. He didn't need to ask. He knew what she meant.

"You too?"

"It's not like yours," Gia shook her head, "But they're reoccurring, they're vivid, and I just can't shake the feeling that something's up. And Emma, Jake, and Noah are all sleeping like babies I hear."

"So what are they about?"

"Just Vrak," Gia said. "I keep dreaming he's coming back. I know it's probably just my own worries playing up but… I can't shake it. I can't shake the feeling that we're not done."

"So you feel it too?"

"It's can't be true, though," Gia looked over to Troy. "I mean, you were there. You saw what happened. The three of us barely survived the ship blowing up, and we didn't have a massive, bleeding hole in our bodies. Vrak's dead. He's gone. He's got to be."

"Something is coming," Troy told her. "As much as I want this to be the end, I keep having dreams. Maybe that's what you're feeling."

"It's Vrak," Gia said. "I'm not just imagining it. My dreams are showing me Vrak for a reason. Is he really coming back?"

"I hope not," Troy answered her honestly, "but I have no idea what's going to happen. But we can beat him again. Just like last time."

"We killed him, Troy. He was dead. There's no way he survived. You can't tell me he made it out alive. If he's back… he's unstoppable."

"Nothing is unstoppable. We'll find a way. You have to believe."

"Believe in what? We kill him and we get peace for two months before he comes back?"

"Vrak can be stopped," Troy told her. "You just need to believe."

"In what?"

"Yourself. In the others."

Gia bit her lip and looked out to the ocean, "It wouldn't be fair, you know. Vrak gets two lives and my dad doesn't. What has Vrak done to deserve that? What did my dad do to deserve dying? He was a good guy. He never hurt anyone."

"Heaven is the home for angels," Troy said and looked to Gia, "If you believe in that. If your father really was good, and I do believe he was, maybe he didn't belong here."

"And what if I don't believe in Heaven? What if I think his life was just cut short and he got robbed? How can you justify what Vrak did then? My dad, a great guy, is fertilizer in the ground and Vrak's the one getting the second chance?"

"He'll get his comeuppance?"

"And if he never does?"

"He can't live forever. Alien species may outlive humans by centuries, but even they've got to die to. Vrak will leave behind anger, hate, and suffering. Your father will have left behind a legacy of hope, humility, and compassion for those who knew him, and for generations to follow."

"Who's to say he'll be remembered?"

"Will you ever let his memory be forgotten?"

"No."

"You're his legacy, Gia," Troy smiled. "Vrak may have killed him, but your father's living his second life through you. Trust me, Vrak can't win."

"I hope you're right," Gia whispered and looked out to the sea once more. "I hope I'm wrong and he never shows his ugly face again."

Troy nodded in agreement and looked out to the sea with Gia. It was then he noticed something approaching the Earth from space, and it was getting bigger and bigger every second. He realized it was headed straight for him and Gia. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up.

"We've got to go."

"What?"

"Now!"

"Troy, what's going on?" Gia asked but then she saw a shadow below her feet and her surroundings were dark. She looked up as a huge spacecraft hovered over her head.

Suddenly, they were surrounded by aliens that looked a lot like Loogies, but Gia and Troy knew they were a different species completely. Their bodies were a greyish red and they had metal helmets protecting their heads. Each of them pointed what appeared to be blasters at Gia and Troy.

"Dream come true?" Gia said to the red Ranger as the two stood back to back, looking over their opponents carefully to see if there was a way out.

"Unfortunately," Troy nodded. "I've seen these guys before. I don't know what they are or who sent them…"

"I have!" another alien dropped from the ship, but he seemed much bigger and stronger than the Loogie copy-cats. His armour was all white and looked rather large and bulky, but when he moved it was smooth and fluid.

"And you are?" Troy asked. He had seen the foot soldiers, but never this monster.

"I am the Messenger," the monster declared. "I have been sent by the Armada to prepare this planet for the coming invasion."

The Messenger held up a blaster. Troy whispered over his shoulder to Gia, "It's morphin time?"

"I… I don't have my morpher," Gia shook her head. "I tossed it."

"You… why?"

"I'm sorry. I'm new to this psychic thing," Gia muttered back. "And we haven't even established I am psychic."

"Where did you toss it?"

"Ocean."

"You… dammit, Gia…"

"X-Borgs!" the large alien cried, "Attack!"


	2. No Answer

Jake didn't like to brag, but he was a thoughtful guy and an amazing boyfriend. Even without being compared to his girlfriend's ex, he was something special. With that in mind, he could walk confidently down the street dressed in dress pants, a nice shirt, his best jacket, and with a bouquet of roses in his hand.

Valentine's Day was still a few days away, but Jake wanted to celebrate it early. He had always promised himself that if he ever managed to get Gia Moran as his girlfriend he would do something amazing for her on their first Valentine's Day. To plan that out so everything was amazing and perfect, he had to get tips from her best friend. Emma had tipped him off about how much Gia hated Valentine's Day because of Cliff. Jake didn't need the details. He figured the ex-boyfriend had come up with some way to ruin a perfectly good holiday. Fortunately Jake was adaptable and fortunately circumstances made it easy to celebrate Valentine's Day nearly a week early.

Gia's birthday was also coming up. She was born in the seventeenth of the month. Her birthday would be on a week day which meant Jake wouldn't be able to make the day all about her because of school. He had planned on doing something on the weekend closest to her birthday until Valentine's Day interfered. In a way, he had Cliff to thank for his plans working out. Jake could spend the romantic holiday with his girlfriend without worrying about her having flashbacks, because technically it wasn't some kind of anniversary of a beating, and he could dedicated not just a day, but a whole weekend to her birthday, and completely ignore the holiday she despised.

Proud of himself, and excited to see his girlfriend so happy and getting the affection she deserved, he walked up to her door with a smiled and knocked.

He had talked about this with Emma and so assumed that Emma would get Gia to answer the door when he came. When the door opened he immediately offered the flowers. They were lowered but never accepted. He saw Emma peeking over the bouquet.

"She's not home."

"You promised she would be," Jake frowned. "You're a horrible wing man."

Emma rolled her eyes. "She told me she was going to the beach to talk to Troy about something. She promised she wouldn't be long. I told her to be home for an hour ago."

Jake lowered the bouquet, "Where is she?"

"I've tried texting and calling," Emma said. "I even tried Troy. No one's answering. Troy's the most reliable guy I know. He always answers his phone. And Gia's never late if she can help it. Her brain's part clock."

"Yeah, that's always freaky," Jake nodded his head. "Clock, calendar, calculator…"

"I'm really worried, Jake. Something happened, I can feel it. This isn't like either of them."

"So, the beach?" Jake set the bouquet on the bench by the door. Emma grabbed her jacket and followed him out of the house. Jake, as he walked, dialled Noah's number.

"Just get to the beach, dude," he said when Noah started to question him. "You're the guy with the water cards and Shark Zord. Something tells me we might need them."

-Megaforce-

When Troy felt himself starting to come to, he had no idea what was around him. He could vaguely remember sitting on the edge of a cliff, talking to Gia about a nightmare… he wasn't sure who had the nightmare anymore. Then the rest of his memory came in flashes. He remembered a large space ship, he remembered aliens and he remembered feeling threatened. He knew, for some reason, he was at a disadvantage.

Then he remembered a freezing cold and a hard impact. After that, everything was black.

He didn't know much about where he was or what happened, but he wasn't cold anymore. He wasn't in any kind of pain. In fact, he couldn't feel anything at all. He struggled to move his arms, his legs, and his body. He didn't know if he was doing it, or what he was doing, but it earned him a laugh from someone. Troy tried to turn his head to see who was with him but found he couldn't move.

"You're complete restrained, human male. Save up your energy. You're going to need it."

Someone stood over him. Troy recognized him – it – as the big alien. He thought he knew the name, but it wasn't coming to mind.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"I am here to prepare this planet for the invasion," the alien said and it sounded familiar to Troy. "Your refusal to surrender marks you as a threat, but while we have you captive, we have decided to study your species."

"Study?" Troy asked.

"We learn the strengths and weaknesses of each species we enslave so we can work them to their optimal potential. Everyone works to their full abilities constantly to please our empire."

"You're not enslaving the Earth," Troy growled. "Humans aren't easily pushed around."

"Quite the contrary," the alien said. Suddenly, Troy felt a sharp pain in his head and let out a piercing cry before everything turned to black again.


	3. A Reset Button

When he opened his eyes, he had no idea where he was, what had happened to him, or even who he was. His head was pounding so he reached his hand up to massage it. He could barely hear anything over the beating pulse he felt in his head. When he could finally manage it, he tried to lift himself up and have a look around.

He saw sand, water, and some rocks. He knew these were hints to where he was. It was… he needed a minute to think about it, but he had a feeling he had been here before. Then, a cold wind blew and chilled him. The wind, the water, the sand, and the rocks; finally, he knew where he was. It was called a beach.

He put his hand in the sand and pushed himself up to his feet. He tried to walk. At first he had to remember to put one foot in front of the other and sway his balance from side to side, but soon enough it came naturally. He walked around, along what he remembered was called the shore, in hopes of finding something that would trigger his memory for… everything.

It was then he saw her – a girl. She was lying in the sand. He felt a sense of panic – he thought it was called – consume him and walked towards her. He rolled her over so she was face up and looked down.

He had no idea who she was, but she was familiar. He knew her from somewhere. He cared about her. He figured it had to do with whatever happened to him. There was no one else around and she seemed to be in the exact same position he had found himself in a few minutes – or hours, his sense of time was off and his memory was skewed – ago.

"Hey. Hey, are you okay?" he called to her and tapped her cheek. She made a noise and then started to move. With his help, she sat up and looked around.

"Where I am?"

"The beach, I think," he answered her. "Do you know what happened?"

She seemed to take a moment to think and then she shook her head. He understood that meant no and sighed with her.

"Me neither."

"HEY!" they suddenly heard a loud cry and both turned to the source. They saw three people making their way over and moving at a quick speed. Running – that was what it was called. They were running to him and the girl.

"Guys, there you are," one of them said and he looked carefully at him. It was a boy. There were two boys and one girl. One of the boys with something in front of his eyes looked and spoke to him. "Troy, Gia, we've been looking everywhere for you."

He looked over his shoulder and seeing there was no one but him and the girl he found he assumed the boy with the things in front of his eyes – the glasses, he finally remembered – was talking to him.

"Me?"

"Yeah," the boy with glasses nodded.

"When you said the beach, I thought you meant the public beach," the girl said and seemed to be speaking to the girl he found. "How did you get here anyways?"

He looked to the girl he found and saw she was looking back at him with confusion. They both knew here was the beach, but neither could remember how they had gotten there, or what they were doing there.

"Hey… are you guys okay?" the other boy asked and lowered himself so he was looking at him. "Did something happen?"

"Who are you?" the girl he found asked this other boy. He looked to the strangers' faces and noticed a change – confusion? Fear? It seemed similar to the way he felt when he found the girl. They were… worried.

"Jake," the boy said. "I'm Jake. Gia, is everything okay?"

The girl, Gia, looked to the boy named Jake with the same confusion he felt. He looked between the two of them and then he looked to the other boy and the girl staring at him.

"Who is Gia?" the girl asked him. The other girl grabbed her shoulders.

"You're Gia. That's you. That's your name."

"I think we have a problem," the boy in the glasses said.

-Megaforce-

"Auto what?"

"Their autobiographical episodic memory seems to be impaired," Tensou explained to Vanessa as he handed her a chart. The yellow Ranger's mother didn't even bother to look at it. Numbers and graphs weren't going to tell her anything. If Tensou wanted her to know something he would have to say it and explain it until she understood. "I'll have to run a few more tests to see the exact extent of the memory loss but based on the data I've already collected, it seems Troy and Gia have no recollection of who they are."

"Which in other words means…?"

"They're a blank slate," Tensou said. "You could tell them they were Mary and John from Briarwood and they'd be just as likely to believe you as if you told them who they really were."

"How does something like this happen?" Claire asked the little robot while she continued to watch Jake, Noah and Emma try to jog Gia's and Troy's memories.

"To put it simply, a brain injury," Tensou pointed to the charts in Vanessa's hands, "But when I did the scan, there was nothing out of the ordinary with their brains. It's almost like someone or something just pressed their reset button and erased everything."

"Is there a way to get it back?"

"I'll know more once I get some more tests done," Tensou said. "If I have to, I might be able to use a technology similar to the chip I've placed in Jake's brain, but at this time I have no idea what'll work, if anything. I'm really sorry."

"Just… work on it, Tensou," Vanessa said softly and then made her way over to the benches where the Rangers were sitting. She walked up to Gia and knelt before her daughter. "Hey, sweetheart. How are you feeling?"

"Why am I here?" Gia asked.

"You're sick. We're here to figure out why you can't remember who you are and how we can fix that. Is there anything you can tell me about yourself?"

Gia looked to Vanessa blankly and shook her head. Vanessa tried not to let it break her heart. She took her daughter's hand and squeezed it. The gesture didn't seem to affect Gia in any way.

"Do you know who I am?"

Gia shook her head again. Vanessa sighed.

"I'm your mother."

"My mother? I have a mother?"

Vanessa nodded. She squeezed Gia's hand again but it still didn't seem to do anything for the yellow Ranger except cause her to pull her hand away.

"Tensou, the robot over there, is going to take care of you," Vanessa said. "We're going to leave you and Troy here for the night so Tensou can run a few tests, and hopefully in the morning we'll have a way to make you remember who you are. Does that sound good?"

"You're my mother, but you're going to leave me here?"

"It's for the best," Vanessa nodded her head. "I trust Tensou. He's not going to hurt you."

"If you say so," Gia whispered and pulled her knees to her chest. Vanessa leaned in to kiss her forehead but Gia pulled away. Vanessa figured it was probably too soon to show her daughter too much affection so with a heavy heart she stood up straight and walked back to Claire.

"Let's just go."

"Vanessa, if we just ask Tensou I'm sure we can…"

"Let's go," Vanessa growled. Claire knew better than to question her now and with help from Tensou both mothers disappeared.

"I'm going to prepare the next test," Tensou said and rolled off to the other room, leaving the Rangers by themselves. Troy, seeing he would get a little bit of peace for a short time rose to his feet and started to walk over to the red console in the middle of the room. He looked down at the screen which flashed images and videos of him in his daily life. Troy knew that was his body, but he didn't feel a connection to this person. He didn't even feel connected to the name the people around him insisted belonged to him. He gripped the sides of the console and let out a long sigh.

The boy with glasses, Noah, Troy had learned was his name, came up to him, "You'll get your memories back. We're going to work as hard and as long as we have to…"

"I'm not that person," Troy shook his head and pointed to the image of himself. "All this looks impressive, and whatever a Power Ranger is, I'm sure it's a lot of fun, but that's not me."

"I assure you, it is. You're a really great guy, Troy. You're strong, confident, and a great leader. Sometimes you're a bit of a loner, but you're a good friend."

Troy shook his head, "I'm sorry. Maybe I was once but… I'm not. Not anymore."

"Something happened. I promise, if you let us restore your memories you'll feel like yourself again."

"I don't want to have my memories and my life given to me," Troy said. "I want to make myself. I want to figure out who I am, not have some robot put memories in my head so I can be what you remember me as."

"Troy…?"

"No," Troy shook his head. "Look, tell your little robot guy thanks for his help, but I'm out of here."

Troy started to walk for the door. Gia looked up and seeing he was leaving wanted to go with him. Jake grabbed her arm to stop her going.

"Gia…"

"I agree with him," Gia said and pointed to Troy. "You guys seem like nice people and all but… I'd rather figure this out for myself, without anyone's help."

"You can't go out there," Jake shook his head and held her arm tighter. "Neither of you can. You have no idea who you are, where you're going. There are a lot of people in the city who are going to try and take advantage of that. We're your friends. I'm your boyfriend…"

"If you're right," Gia pulled her arm out of his grip, "Then we'll be back and you have nothing to worry about."

"Gia, he's right," Emma said. "You two can't go out there by yourselves. Anything can happen. We're your friends. Just stay one night and…"

"Like I said," Gia repeated herself, "You all seem like nice people, but I'm not just going to let some strangers put memories I'm not sure are mine in my head."

"Stranger? Gia, I've known you my whole life. We did everything together…"

"Then you have nothing to worry about," Gia insisted and turned to Troy. He nodded his head.

"I've got nothing to stay for, it seems," he said. "I'm headed off. Gia, you can come if you want."

"I want," Gia answered and followed him out. Noah shook his head and sighed loudly as he watched them go. Jake bit his lip and started to pace with worry. Emma dropped back down on her bench and put her head in her hands.


	4. Alone In The Streets

Though she had been living with the Burrows for several months now, her father's death changed everything. Rebecca had been going to grief counselling, talking to the school therapist and another therapist Mr. and Mrs. Burrows had hired for her. She was doing her best to be open and honest about the way she felt, even if she thought it would hurt herself or the person she was talking to. She was doing everything she could to get back to her old, happy self.

However, the best treatment she could get was talking to her brother. She had gotten very angry at him when she first found her father's dead, drunk body, but she had apologized to him for the blow up and he had been the best big brother throughout her whole grieving process. He would listen to her talk, he would remind her that her life was turning around without denying the sadness she felt for losing her neglectful, drunk, and recently abusive father. He always understood, or was at least very convincingly understanding about her mixed feelings and would sit through hours and hours of her whining, crying, and anger just to help her cope. Because she knew she had that support, she knew she was going to be okay. She knew she still had a real family to lean on.

So when he was late coming home, she worried. Not too much, she knew he could take care of himself, but she did get a little anxious. She covered for him when his parents started to question him and got them to go to bed without worrying about him, but she stayed up and waited by the door. She wanted him to come home. She needed him to come home.

At about eleven o'clock there was a knock. Rebecca ran from the bottom of the stairs to the door and pulled it wide open. Her heart dropped when she saw it wasn't Troy.

"Oh, it's just you," she muttered and walked away from the door. Noah stepped inside the house and frowned.

"Any other time, I'd be offended by that."

"He's late," Rebecca said. "Gia wanted to talk to him so he went out, but that was hours ago."

"I know," Noah nodded his head. Rebecca looked to him. Her eyes widened. She could read his body language now. He was delivering bad news.

"Is he okay?"

"Depends on your view of okay," Noah said. He walked her to the couch and sat with her. "When Emma noticed Gia was late we went to the beach to see if we could find them. We did, but they weren't where we thought they would be."

"Oh?"

"Physically it looks like nothing happened to them," Noah said. "But when we asked them why they had strayed so far from the public space on the beach, and why they were out late… they didn't know."

"So?"

"We pressed a little more with questions and… they didn't know much of anything. Tensou said it looks a lot like autobiographical episodic memory loss."

"In English now, please, nerd," Rebecca sighed.

"They don't know who they are," Noah clarified. "When we got to them, they didn't know their name, who we were, what they were doing at the beach… They have absolutely no idea about anything."

"Troy and Gia?"

"Tensou's doing his best to come up with something but… I just thought you should know. I thought maybe you could talk to Troy and try and convince him to go back to the command center…"

"Wait, he's not at the command center?"

"He didn't like the idea of having his memories given to him. He insisted on finding himself," Noah said. "We tried to convince him and Gia both to stay the night but… they can be pretty persistent."

"So where is he? Where's my brother?"

"We… we aren't really sure."

"My brother's got no idea who he is or who he can trust, and you just let him go into the city by himself?" Rebecca cried and jumped up from the couch to get her jacket and her boots on. Noah followed her.

"They aren't exactly helpless. They're still the people we know them to be. They just… don't know it. He'll be fine for one night. I just wanted to give you the heads up…"

"I'm going out to find him," Rebecca said and put her hat on. "I don't care if he wants company or not. We can't just leave him out there alone. Anything could happen! He could get mixed up with the wrong people. He could lose himself even more if the right person figures out what's happened to him!"

"Rebecca, we don't know how this happened. It would be best if you stayed home where it's safe."

"He's my brother," Rebecca said. "I owe him everything. I'm going out to find him."

Rebecca walked out the door. Noah groaned and hurried after her.

"At least let me come with you!"

-Megaforce-

Across town, Troy and Gia were making their way slowly down the sidewalk. The sun was complete gone, and had been that way for hours. The streets were bare with the exception of the occasional car or late night pedestrian.

Neither spoke much. In their state, they barely knew each other. The only reason they stated together was because they both seemed to have no idea who they were and they were both trying to find it. At this point, the other was the only person they could trust to be honest with them because they knew the other knew nothing.

"Did anything they say ring any bells?" Troy finally spoke up and glanced slightly at Gia. She shook her head.

"Nope."

"I've been thinking about it," Troy said. "As much as they seem like honest, trustworthy people… we don't know what happened. For all we know, this could be their fault."

"I don't think…"

"But you don't know," Troy interrupted her. "We're humans. We must have had lives before this, just like everyone else. Something happened to make us forget. Who's to say you really are Gia?"

"I guess I'm not sure," Gia shrugged her shoulders. "What about my mom?"

"Anyone could say anything to us. That's why I wanted to get out of there. They could have been our friends but… if they aren't…"

"Yeah, I hear you," Gia whispered and looked down at the sidewalk. It was then she bumped shoulder with one of the few pedestrians she had seen that night. She looked up to whisper an apology but the woman she hit stopped and turned to her. She looked angry.

"I knew it was only a matter of time," the woman muttered. Gia looked confused and turned to Troy, doubtful he would have answers but she still tried. He shrugged. She looked back at the woman.

"I'm sorry? Can I help you?"

"Help? You want to help me? How about you get the hell out of my life!"

"I'll look where I'm going next time," Gia muttered. She tried to turn around and walk off with Troy but the woman grabbed her shoulder and roughly spun her around.

"I knew you were trouble," she said. "I knew it, the moment I laid eyes on you, you were nothing but a heartless, man hating bitch! I was right!"

"Do I know you?" Gia asked. Suddenly, she was slapped on the cheek. She was shocked for a moment. She didn't quite understand what had happened or why. Then she looked to the woman. "What the hell?"

"I took your advice!" the woman shouted. "I moved out! You know what he did?"

"Look, lady, I'm sorry for whatever but…"

"He drank himself to death! If I had been there, if I had watched him, my husband would still be here!"

"Look, lady," Troy tried to cut in, "Whatever happened, I'm sorry…"

"Sorry? That means a lot coming from you!" the woman shouted. "You were a good for nothing son! You know, if you had tried a little harder to make amends with your father he wouldn't be dead. Carl was going through a hard time because of the shit you kids put him through. Both of you should be ashamed of yourselves, and you," the woman pointed directly at Gia, "You're especially to blame. You may have my son wrapped around your little finger but…"

"Your son?" Gia asked but regretted it almost instantly. The woman's face turned as red as the shirt Troy was wearing. Her nostrils flared. Hate burned in the black of her eyes. Gia and Troy both took a step back.

"You broke his heart, haven't you?"

"I don't know who you're talking about."

"Jake? Jake Holling? My precious boy. My boy who sacrificed everything for you."

"I… you mean the guy who's kind of cute, but kind of dorky looking too…"

"I knew it," the woman growled and grabbed Gia's shirt. She pushed her into a nearby brick wall. "You're just a whore."

"I…"

"Shut up!" the woman shouted and slapped her again. Troy saw this and knew he had to jump in. He pulled the woman away from Gia. Then he took Gia by the arm and tried to hurry off with her. However, the woman followed him and grabbed him. When Troy turned around to try to push her away again, he was sprayed in the face by something that quickly burned at his skin and eyes. He put his hands to his face and dropped to his knees and he tried to stop the burning feeling.

"Hey!" Gia cried and she knelt to try and help Troy get the spray off his face but she was suddenly pushed. She realized the woman wanted to fight with her and couldn't stop herself from turning to her. This earned her another slap to the face and the woman grabbed her hair and pulled. "OW!"

"You heartless, home-wreaking, bitch!" the woman shouted and as Gia tried to pull her hair free she felt something scratch across her face. It was painful. She tried to pull away again and this time managed to get her hair free from the woman's grasp but felt several strands of hair leaving her head. Gia fell to the ground and was then smacked several times with the woman's bag. Finally, she was spit on. The woman yelled at her some more before running off angrily.

Gia touched her head where she felt the most pain from losing some hair and then touched her face. When she pulled her hand away from her face she saw traces of blood.

"Psychotic bitch," Gia muttered and rubbed her sleeve against her face to try and clean off some of the blood. Then she pulled Troy to his feet and helped him up.

"Are you okay?"

"Get this off," he said. "I've got to rinse this off. Hurry up, it burns!"

"I… uh…" Gia looked around. She wasn't sure where she could go. All the buildings nearby were shut down for the night and there wasn't a fountain around.

Then she saw just by the corner was a fast food restaurant that was open twenty four hours a day. She led Troy along inside and then into the bathroom to help him clean up. He complained the entire way that his face and eyes burned, and that continued even some time after Gia managed to wash off the spray.

After a little while, though, there was nothing left. Troy's face and eyes were red, but he could see and the pain had gone down a little bit. Gia's checked her face in the mirror and saw the woman had scratched her up with her nails. She had gotten a good swipe across Gia's left cheek starting from her jaw and going right up to under her eye. Gia used some of the paper towels to clean off the rest of the blood.

"Now what?" she asked Troy as she discarded the paper towel and looked at her scratch in the mirror again. The bleeding had slowed down for now, but she grabbed another towel just in case it started up again. Troy shrugged his shoulders.

"Any idea what you did to that psycho?"

"No. I think she was Jake's mom. You know, the guy from that cave."

"Glasses or no?"

"No."

Troy nodded his head, "We should keep our distance from them, then. If that's how his mother's going to treat us, I don't want to know what those people have in mind for us."

Gia sighed, "I don't think it's smart to be just the two of us. We don't know who to trust. We don't know what part of the city is safe or not…"

"What do you suggest? Know anyone we can trust?"

"I… no," Gia shook her head, "But this isn't working. We got our butts kicked by a middle aged woman."

"Pepper spray hurts!" Troy pointed to his eyes. "I don't know who I am, but I'm no super hero. We should just keep to ourselves from now on. If we can't trust anyone, then we don't."

"So what, we stay locked up in here? A public bathroom?"

"Just give the burning another minute to die down and then I'll come up with something."

"Just avoid the psychotic bitches of this city," Gia muttered and looked at her face in the mirror. "This is going to take a while to heal."


	5. Photograph

Claire couldn't get much sleep and after a couple of hours of tossing and turning in bed she decided she had had enough. She got up and grabbed her housecoat as she walked down the hallway to the kitchen.

Being a Ranger mother was a tough job. When it dawned on her that her daughter, the daughter she had neglected for most of her life and only just recently realized how much of an idiot she was for it, was the pink Ranger, her life changed completely. Even on nights where Emma was tucked safely in her bed after a long night of texting back and forth with Jordan, Claire was up for hours worrying about her. Would this be the last night Emma was home safe? Would this be the last night she had a healthy, happy daughter? Would this be the last night she had a daughter?

But Claire had spent a lot of time with the Morans, and the Morans didn't just have one Ranger, they had two. Claire worried tremendously about Emma, but she worried for Gia, the yellow Ranger, just as much. Though they had never gotten along until recently, Claire had started to see Gia as a niece – as part of the family and someone to look out for. When Vanessa had to leave town and then was in the train accident, Claire had been forced into a new relationship with Gia.

The yellow and the pink Rangers were her daughters. She couldn't imagine a day going by without one of them.

So this was hard. Emma was tucked safely in her bed upstairs, but Gia wasn't home. Gia wasn't even Gia anymore. No one was sure what had happened, but she and Troy had lost their memories, and until it was returned, it was almost like they never existed.

But they had. People missed them. Claire had to comfort Emma and then listened painfully as her daughter cried herself to sleep. Claire knew the rest of the Ranger team was worried too. The looks on their faces at the command center said it all. Claire missed them, she missed Gia.

She wanted to go to the kitchen to fix herself something to eat, but she saw a light on in the living room. She detoured and found Vanessa on the couch, surrounded by Emma's photo albums. There was a warm cup of coffee sitting on the table while Vanessa flipped through the album on her lap.

"What do you have there?" Claire asked. Vanessa sighed.

"Pictures. Do you remember when the girls were really little?"

"Vaguely," Claire sat down on the couch and looked at each of the pictures on the page, "Man, was I an idiot. They were so cute."

"Mom always used to say enjoy the screaming and crying and colic," Vanessa muttered. "Before you know it, they'll be grown and they'll be gone. I thought she was nuts."

"Colic," Claire nodded her head. "I remember that. I thought for sure you were going to strangle Gia. You know, I almost called child services once."

"The neighbours did twice," Vanessa said. "Joe and I were tired, Gia was screaming at all hours of the day. Man, what I wouldn't give to go back to those days. I kept waiting for her to get a little older, a little easier. Turns out, mom was right. Gia may have been colicky, but at least she was here. At least she mine."

Claire put her hand on her best friend's back and let out a breath, "Tensou promised he would do all he could, and the little guy's always pulled through before. He fixed Jake's head, Gia's back, and he's kind of the hands of the whole Ranger operation."

"I just… I can't shake that look," Vanessa shook her head. "Gia, my little girl, looked me right in the eyes and she had no idea who I was. Not a clue. That's like if all of these pictures, the memories, just vanished."

"Don't think that way. They're just… misplaced," Claire assured her with a smile. "We'll find them. We just have to keep looking."

"And then what? Someone did this to them. Someone's out there. If the Rangers need to be called back into battle… what next? How long before we're up all night worried about them again? How long until Emma disappears, or the girls come home missing a finger, or an arm, or a leg? At what point does it stop? Please, Claire. Tell me. Tell me so I can know when this hell is finally over; when the girls are going to be safe and happy again like in these pictures?"

Claire looked down at the pictures of the girls making a snowman in the backyard and shrugged her shoulders.

"It's over when it's over," she said and closed the book. She helped Vanessa up from the couch and walked her to the stairs. "Until then, we have to savour every good moment between the bad ones. We can't worry about what'll come next, but we need to treat every look, every smile, every dinner as though it's the last."

"Get my baby home," Vanessa said and looked to Claire pleadingly. "All of her."

She knew there was nothing Claire could really do, but she was desperate at this point. She was tired of fighting and tired in general. Claire nodded her head.

"Get some sleep, Vanessa. They'll be fine."

She watched Vanessa go up the stairs and then into her bedroom. When the door shut, Claire walked to the living room and picked up as all the albums she needed. Then she grabbed the communicator Tensou had let her and Vanessa keep so they could stay in touch at all times.

"Tensou, can I talk to Troy and Gia?"

"They stormed off hours ago," Tensou said. "I'm sorry, should I have kept them here?"

"Tensou…"

"Sorry…"

"Where did they go?"

"They weren't happy about having their memories forced back into them. They wanted to figure out who they were by themselves. They stormed off and… I don't know where they went. I've been too busy trying to find a cure."

"Keep working on it, Tensou. I've got to find those kids."

"Be careful," Tensou told her. "I like to listen to the radio when I work. It keeps me informed about what humans do throughout the day. Apparently, some people heard a fight going on in one of the neighbourhoods. It's not too far from where you used to live, actually."

"Thanks, Tensou," Claire said and then put the communicator down. She was about to make a mental note to herself to avoid that neighbourhood but something about the story seemed to call to her. She decided to be careful but to check out her old home first. While she and Jeff had managed to sell it back to the bank, she had driven by it before and knew no one owned it yet.

It was perfect for two teenagers looking for a place to go.

-Megaforce-

Troy looked up and down the street as Gia walked up to the house at the other end of the driveway. There was a lock on the door to keep it bolted shut, but Gia had assured him that if he could keep a look out, she could break in. She said the look looked easy enough to shatter.

"Are you sure?" Troy called up to her softly.

"Look out," Gia answered back. Troy checked the streets but saw no cars coming. He heard something smashing behind him and turned around. He was just in time to see Gia twist the doorknob and walk into the house. He made sure no one was around and then ran inside to join her, closing the door as he walked in.

"Nice work," he complimented her and looked around the house. "It does look abandoned. I wonder how long it's been like this."

Gia found the kitchen and walked up to the fridge. She and Troy had no money so when they were at the fast food place they couldn't get anything to eat. She was starving. She opened the door and peeked inside to see if there was anything that kept. She grabbed a yogurt and checked the expiry date.

"What's the day?" she asked Troy. He shrugged his shoulders.

"If that's yogurt, you might not want to eat that."

"We know that," Gia muttered and put the yogurt back, "but we don't even know our real names."

"The little robot said whatever happened to us was complicated," Troy said. He offered Gia the box of crackers he found. "They're stale, but they're food."

Gia happily took a handful and ate the crackers as she continued to look around the house. She wanted to know what she had to start with before she got settled. She already knew the food in the fridge and freezer had likely gone bad. Troy started his own tour and climbed the stairs to check out the bedrooms. He walked into the first one he saw and tried the lights. They were out, but there was a flashlight right under the window. He picked it up, turned it on, and had a look around. He saw a desk, a bed, and on the walls were a ton of pictures of wildlife and scenery.

"Whoever used to live here loved nature," he muttered as Gia joined in him the room as part of her tour. Gia gave a slight nod of her head as she walked to the bed. She saw something on the table next to it and picked it up. Troy then heard a gasp and something hit the floor. He turned around and saw Gia looking to him with shock.

"What?"

Gia picked up what she had dropped and showed him. Troy shone the light on the picture she was holding up and he immediately understood her surprise.

"That's… you?" he flashed the light at her face to make sure he really was seeing double. Gia held up her hand to block the light.

"Why does this house have a picture of me?" she asked. Troy lowered the light and shrugged. He walked to the end table and started to go through the drawers. Not much was left, but he did find a folder of loose pictures.

"You a photographer?"

"I don't think so," Gia shook her head. "This isn't my house, is it?"

"Tree, leaf, flower, stone, tree, flower, flower, flower," Troy named off all the pictures as he flipped through them. "Can't you take a picture of anything else?"

"This doesn't feel right," Gia shook her head. "This can't be me. I'm not… am I?"

"You know more than I do," Troy shrugged. He continued to flip through the pictures until he found one that surprised him. He held it up to show Gia. "Okay, this is just getting weird."

"Is that… us?"

"Turns out, we were friends before this," Troy said. "If these pictures aren't lying."

He gave the picture to Gia to examine and looked at the next. It was even more surprising, "Uh, Gia?"

"What now?"

"Aren't these the guys from that cave?" Troy showed her the picture. The two of them were standing with Jake, Noah, and Emma in a park. Gia looked to it but didn't have time to offer her opinion. The two of them heard the door downstairs open and someone called up.

"Hello? Is someone here?"

"Shit," they whispered. They put the pictures down on the bed and tried to look for somewhere to hide. After their last encounter with a stranger, they didn't want to face anyone else. Troy's face and eyes were still burning and Gia's scratch had only just stopped bleeding when they found the house.

They opened the closet and curled up in there. Troy made sure to close the door and both were as silent as they could be while they listened to footsteps move around the house.

Downstairs, Claire had stopped by her old house and saw the lock that had been on the door for months had been broken. She remembered babysitting Gia once a long time back and whenever she tried to confine the young girl to her playpen, Gia would always find a way to break out. It seemed memory loss couldn't take everything away.

She walked to the kitchen first. She assumed if Troy and Gia had been out for a while they would be hungry and look for food. She saw a box of crackers on the counter and knew someone was there. This was not the state she left her house.

"It's me: Claire!" she called out and searched the other rooms on the main floor. She even checked the coat closet, just in case she spooked them. Then she started to climb the stairs. "Hello?"

She walked into Emma's old bedroom first. It was right in front of the stairs. She opened the door and looked around.

"Gia? Troy? Are you in here?" she didn't get an answer, but she figured it they had run away from the command center they didn't want to be found. She had to find them, though. With the photo albums still tucked under her arm she kept up the search. She checked under the bed, under the desk, and in every corner until there was just the closet she had left unchecked.

She opened the door and though she had been hoping to find two teenagers, their presence gave her a fright. She jumped, but it seemed they were the ones who had really been startled.

"There you are," she smiled and knelt in the doorway.

"We're sorry," Troy said. "We thought this house was abandoned. We'll leave…"

"It's fine. Don't you recognize me? From the command center?" Claire asked. Both stared back at her blankly and that was when she remembered she hadn't introduced herself to them then. They didn't know who she was. "I'm a friend. I promise."

"Promises are easy to make," Gia said. Claire nodded her head and turned to the yellow Ranger. She immediately noticed the scratch marks on her cheek that hadn't been there earlier.

"What happened?" despite knowing Gia and Troy had no clue who she was, maternal instincts kicked in. She set the albums down and reached out to Gia's cheek. "Sweetheart, that could get infected fast if we don't clean it up."

Gia pulled her head away, "It's a scratch. Leave me alone. We'll get out of your hair…"

"You guys can stay," Claire assured them. "Stay here as long as you need, I assure you. I just want to check out that scratch. What happened? Who did this?"

Claire managed to touch Gia's face again and get a closer look at the scratch. She didn't have much experience as a doctor, but she knew it was a scratch from someone's nails. There were four lines that travelled up Gia's left cheek. Two of them broke the skin and one seemed quite deep.

"I've got a first aid kit in the car. I'll clean that up for you?"

"Can we trust you?" Troy asked.

Claire just smiled. Her words weren't going to convince them of anything. She offered her hands and helped each of them to their feet. Then she picked up the albums and gave them to Troy.

"I'll get the first aid kit. Why don't you two go downstairs and start looking through those. You might find them interesting."

"More pictures?" Gia asked as she opened up the first album. "We're here too. Where are all these pictures coming from?"

"I can explain," Claire promised. "Just let me get that first aid kit."


	6. The Shark And The Dragon

Rebecca and Noah looked everywhere they thought Troy could be hiding but found no sign of the red Ranger. Noah was exhausted and he just wanted to call it a night. There were only a few hours left before the sun was up and he would be expected to go to school. Dr. Oliver would understand his fatigue, but Noah didn't want to waste a day or learning. They were still behind in their classes because of their poor attendance the previous semester.

"Rebecca…"

"He's got to be around here somewhere," Rebecca said. She checked down an alleyway and then came back out with a shake of her head. "We need to keep looking."

"Rebecca…"

"Troy would be out here all night looking for any of us," Rebecca reminded the blue Ranger. "If he's really got no memories, he's probably scared and lost and in over his head. We have to find him."

"He's the freaking red Ranger," Noah muttered but agreed with Rebecca that if the roles were reversed Troy wouldn't give up. "Where do we look now…?"

"You!" someone shouted down the street. Rebecca turned around and saw Mrs. Holling. She rolled her eyes. She hadn't seen her step-mother since before her father's passing with the exception of his funeral. Mrs. Holling didn't have nice things to say to her then.

"I can't talk…"

"No, you're going to talk," Mrs. Holling shouted. "Do you have any idea what your good for nothing brother…"

"Don't talk about him like that!" Rebecca screamed and tried to shove her step-mother. Noah jumped in between the two of them and kept them both apart. "Troy's the best! He takes better care of me than dad ever did!"

"Tell your brother, when you see him, he's a worthless son!" Mrs. Holling shouted. "Carl was ruined because of you and your brother. He just wanted to fix things, but you turned your backs on him! You ruined him!"

"I never turned my back on him," Rebecca shouted back, "And dad turned his back on Troy a long time ago! Troy did nothing wrong!"

"Pfft," Mrs. Holling scoffed. "Nothing? So you mean defending that bitch that stole my son's heart and got your father killed is nothing?"

"Wait, what?"

"Tell your brother and that little slut that next time I see them, they won't be so lucky!"

"Mrs. Holling," Noah turned to her, "Are you saying you saw them recently? Like tonight?"

"Let it go, Noah," Mrs. Holling started to turn away. He grabbed her arm.

"No, please. We've been out all night looking for them. Where did you see them?"

"You and Jake are supposed to be best friends," Mrs. Holling frowned. "You mean to tell me, after everything, you're going to side with her?"

"Just tell us where you saw them. They need our help."

Mrs. Holling thought about it for a moment and then shook her head, "Those kids could rot on the street for all I care…"

"Listen to yourself, Mrs. Holling!" Noah screamed and pulled on her arm. "You were never like this! Not before! You were a nice lady, generous, even! All of a sudden Jake starts dating the girl of his dreams and you turn into this… this bitch!"

"Noah Carver, you apologize for that language this instant or I'll be calling your mother…"

"Do it!" Noah shouted and pulled out his phone. "Here! Be my guest. Tell my mother all about how I chewed you out for being the world's biggest, most self-centered, heartless bitch!"

"That's it! Just wait until your mother hears about this," Mrs. Holling took his phone and tried to figure out how to unlock it. "What's your code? I thought it was your birthday?"

"I changed it," Noah shook his head. "It's the night of our prom, the night Gia first kissed Jake. It's that date because that's first day where Jake's been at his happiest."

"Your phone passcode is the date of your best friend's first kiss with a whore?"

Noah rolled his eyes, "Look, I didn't think Jake had a shot in hell with Gia either. I thought, if they ever did get together, she was going to somehow hurt him. I had my doubts, but I let Jake go for what he wanted because I would never away a chance at happiness for him. Somehow, even with all this hate in your heart, you raised a good guy. Jake's always been there for me, and he's the best thing Gia could ever ask for, and since he's been with her, I've never seen him happier."

"She'll break his heart…"

"You know what, shit happens. Right now, he's having a good time. He's happy. He's in love. Gia's good for him. He was never a bad guy, but he's an even better person now that she's in his life. And because of this, because of the way you're acting now, if the day ever does come where he and Gia break up, he's never coming back."

"He'll know I was right…"

"He knows you don't give a damn about his happiness," Noah said. "He can't trust you anymore, Mrs. Holling. He can't believe you'll have his best interest at heart because you walked away from your son over some girl?"

"He left me! He and his father just stormed right out and I haven't been able to do anything right since."

"Take a good look in the mirror," Noah said. "See who's really the heartless bitch. They're the ones who usually die alone."

Noah took back his cell phone and gently pushed Rebecca along, "Come on. Let's see if we can't find them and get them home safe."

Rebecca walked with him down the sidewalk but turned to take a look at Mrs. Holling. She saw the older woman stomp off in the other direction angrily. She chuckled.

"Wow, I didn't know you had it in you," she said to Noah. "You chewed her out like a badass. A nerdy badass, but still."

"Jake doesn't want it to show, but he misses her. The only thing standing between them making up is…"

"Gia?"

"Mrs. Holling," Noah shook his head. "Gia's… I know she'll never hurt Jake because she's not stopping him having a relationship with his mom. After all Mrs. Holling's said and done to her, you couldn't blame her for telling Jake she wasn't worth it."

"Gia's… good like that, I guess."

"If Mrs. Holling wants to die a bitter old widow, she can be my guest. We'll make sure Jake's got all he needs with us."

"We're a really messed up family, aren't we?"

"Sometimes, those are the best kinds," Noah smiled. Rebecca looked up at him with a nod and then started to chuckle.

"So, be serious, the passcode on your phone is the anniversary of Gia and Jake's first kiss? You know that's a little weird, right?"

"It's my birthday," Noah shook his head. "Mrs. Holling just always seems to think I'm born on the twenty third instead of the twenty second."

"So why did you say…"

"I hoped it would help her realize how happy Jake is. I guess he gets his hard head from her. But that's not important. We should find our friends. Sounds like they've already had one rough encounter tonight."

"Yeah. Mrs. Dragon Lady is one of the reasons I never moved back in with dad. You know, before he used me as a punching bag."


	7. Collection Time

Troy flipped through the photo album Claire had given him and he saw himself in most of the pictures. He couldn't remember anything about them, and felt absolutely no connection to the pictures, but it was hard not to believe they were real. Unlike the images on the screens in the cave, these didn't look like they were altered.

"So they were telling the truth?" he asked. "Those people… they're our friends?"

"Good friends," Claire nodded her head as she cleaned off Gia's scratches. "You kids are always looking out for each other."

"Why don't I remember any of them?" Troy asked. Claire shrugged her shoulders.

"We're trying to figure that out."

Troy looked to the pictures again. He was playing a sport – soccer he remembered it was called – with the two boys from earlier and another one he didn't recognize at all. He held up the picture to show Claire.

"This guy? He's in a lot of pictures. Who is he?"

"Jordan," Claire smiled. "He's Emma's boyfriend. Emma's the photographer. She's the one who took all the pictures."

Claire turned to Gia and chuckled, "You and Jordan never seemed to get along."

"Why?" Gia asked. Claire shrugged her shoulders.

"Probably the same reason your father and I used to fight a lot. Before your parents were married, obviously. It never feels good to lose your best friend."

"My… who is that?"

"Emma. You two did everything together growing up. You were practically sisters."

"I don't remember any of that," Gia shook her head.

"I know," Claire sighed. She started to pack up the first aid kit, "Come home, both of you. Come back to my new house. You have friends there, family even, who'll take care of you."

"Look, I'm willing to believe that these pictures are real," Troy held up the album, "But until I know for sure who I can trust, I'd rather just stay here. Gia might have some family but I've…"

"This used to be Emma's old house," a voice suddenly said from the front hallway as the door opened up. "The bank's taken back possession when the house wouldn't sell. No one's living here. We can stop, take a rest and the start looking again in a couple of hours."

"Sounds good to me," a female voice replied and came closer to the living room. Suddenly, she and the other voice were standing in the living room. Both screamed when they saw the shadows of three strangers already in the house.

"Noah? Rebecca?" Claire asked when she recognized the two teens. "What are you doing here?"

"Claire?" Noah frowned and tried to get a better look at her in the dark. Rebecca's eyes were drawn to the shadow by the other couch and she could finally make out her brother. She didn't care that he likely didn't remember her. She darted across the room and dove into his arms.

"You're safe!" she hugged him tightly. Troy didn't respond to the gesture at all. He just sat completely still.

"Uh…"

"It's me," Rebecca pulled away to look at him and so he could see her face, "I'm Rebecca! I'm your sister! Well half-sister. We share a dad, but he's dead, and he was a bit of an asshole because for most of our lives, well, if we're honest, it wasn't until a few months ago when we found out about each other and you helped changed my life and now we live together with your family and you're a super awesome big brother and…"

"Who are you again?" Troy asked and pushed her away.

"I'm your sister! I know you have no memory but I promise, I'm going to help. I'm going to…"

"I have a sister?"

Rebecca crossed her arms over her chest, "Wow, whatever happened to you, it happened hard. Do you even know what a sister is?"

"I know what a sister is," Troy rolled his eyes. "I just… don't know if I have one."

"Two! You have two! Me and Ryan."

"Ryan? Isn't that a boy's name?"

"Unisex," Rebecca said. "She's adorable, Troy. She's crawling and she likes to get into everything and everywhere and she does this really cute but really annoying thing where if she thinks you're hurt she screams. She gives cuddles to her favourite people and you always get the most because you're a super awesome big brother and…"

"I'm sorry. I don't remember any of that."

"I know, but we're gonna fix that."

Troy shook his head, "Look, Rachel…"

"Rebecca."

"I don't want to be told who I am. I don't want to be fixed. I'd rather figure it out for myself," Troy stood up and tried to walk away. Rebecca ran after him and pulled him in for another hug. She wouldn't let him run off.

"Please, let me help," she said. "If you don't want to be fixed, I get it. But I want to help however I can…"

"Let me go…"

"No! You're my brother. You're my rock. I'll do anything to help."

"You can get out of my way."

"Troy!"

"Move it," Troy pushed her away and then stormed out of the house. He pulled his jacket around himself a little tighter to keep the cold out and didn't notice a group of aliens running towards him. Before he knew they were there he was grabbed and forced to the ground.

"Troy!" Rebecca shouted from the house as she watched the aliens grab her brother. She had no idea who they were but she assumed they had something to do with her brother's memory loss. "Noah! Claire, Gia!" she called inside the house, "Help!"

The others came running while Rebecca tried to look around for something she could do to help her brother. It was then she caught a glance at the sky and saw a large space ship coming down. More of the new aliens appeared and one big, white, clunky alien made his way out of the ship.

"There you are," he said as he stood over Troy. "We've been looking all over for you, Male. Where's your little friend?"

"Who are you?" Troy asked as he tried to pull away from the aliens holding him down. The big alien didn't answer him. He looked over to the house. Claire noticed his stare seemed to fall on Gia. She assumed the monster was looking for Gia and stood in front of her.

"Grab them," the big alien ordered. Troy was hauled to his feet while the army of aliens started to make their way over to Gia. Noah morphed.

"Get out of here!" he cried to everyone and summoned his Shark Bowgun. He started to shoot at the monsters taking Troy away but then realized the others were getting uncomfortably close to Gia. "Dammit…" he muttered. He didn't know what to do.

"Troy!" Rebecca screamed and pushed her way through the aliens to reach her brother. She grabbed on to one of them that was trying to take him away and pulled on his arm. "Let him go!"

"Kill her!" the big alien ordered and one of the aliens turned on Rebecca. He pointed his blaster at her. Noah saw what was going to happen and had to stop it. He ran as quickly as he could and put himself between Rebecca and the alien, taking the full brunt of the blast with his Ranger suit. Both of them hit the ground hard while the aliens took Troy up on their ship.

Over by the house, Claire saw the aliens were getting far too close for comfort, and with Noah and Rebecca already down, she was alone.

"Gia, any of that yellow Ranger stuff coming back to you?" she asked.

"Yellow Ranger?"

"I guess not," Claire said and then she felt one of them grab her arm to try and pull her away. She shook her head and pulled her hand free. "Hey! Over my dead…"

Suddenly, Claire felt something go through her stomach. She gasped loudly and dropped to her knees. When she looked down, she saw one of the alien's weapons sticking out from her body. The aliens then pushed her aside, grabbed Gia, and dragged her over to the space ship. Before they disappeared, the big alien looked over the three humans he would be leaving behind.

"Tell your kind this marks your last days of freedom. The Armada is on their way. Surrender or you will be killed!"


	8. Tough Decisions

Troy found himself lying face up on a table, with his arms restrained above his head and his ankles secured at the other end. As hard as he tried, he couldn't free himself. He pulled, he tugged, he shifted his body and he even screamed at some of the aliens to let him go. Nothing worked. When the biggest alien, the one that called himself the Messenger, stood over him, Troy looked up, seething.

"What do you want with me?"

"You're our research project," the Messenger answered him. "The more information I can gather on you Earthlings, the more I can help the Prince and the Armada prepare for the invasion."

"Research project?" Troy asked and then felt something stick to his forehead. He tried to look up but he couldn't see what was happening.

"Compared to most, we've found Earthlings to be especially weak in all areas. I'm sure the Prince will find some use for you."

"Humans are not weak," Troy growled. "Whatever you are, whatever you plan on doing, we're going to find a way to stop you."

"Yes, this stubborn persistence…"

"Determination," Troy corrected him. "We're not going to let you take over our planet. We're…"

Troy didn't know what happened as, suddenly, everything faded to black.

-Megaforce-

"OW!"

"Sorry," Jake rolled his eyes as Rebecca recoiled away from his fingers. "Stop moving. Let me have a look."

"Stop it! It hurts," Rebecca slapped his hands away. Jake sighed and grabbed her face, holding it straight.

"It looks broken," he told her as he examined her nose carefully. "Are you sure you don't want to go to the doctor."

"It's just a broken nose," Rebecca shook her head. "It'll be fine."

"Sorry about that… again," Noah called sheepishly from the other side of the command center. "It was either that, or I let those aliens blow you to pieces."

"I'll take head-butting a Ranger helmet any day," Rebecca muttered. She tried to touch her own nose but pulled her hand away almost as soon as contact was made. "Ow…"

Jake put his hand on Rebecca's shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze before he got up and walked over to Noah. He pulled his best friend aside.

"So what exactly happened? What are we up against?"

"I wish I had more I could tell you," Noah said. "We had just found them at Emma's old place when those aliens showed up. I don't think it's a stretch to say they're responsible for Troy's and Gia's memory loss."

"It doesn't matter if they're responsible. They have them now. We've got to get them back," Jake said and clenched his fists. Noah nodded his head.

"I know. I agree with you, Jake, but the more we know going in; the more we can help them. If these guys are responsible for the memory loss, that means there must be something we can use on the ship to give them their memories back."

"If there is, we get them back to normal and then blow the whole place up, aliens and all," Jake said and then he turned to Tensou, "Any luck finding that ship?"

"There's no trace of it," Tensou shook his head and moved away from the red console. "They must be using a cloaking device or something. It's like the ship didn't even exist."

"It's a million square foot ship," Rebecca said when she heard Tensou was having a hard time finding it. "What do you mean, there's no trace of it?"

"It wasn't a million…" Noah started to correct her but the younger girl gave him a harsh glare. Rebecca checked the red console for herself.

"Tensou, my brother's on that ship. Some alien freaks abducted him, and I doubt they're just going to spit him back out again! You have to find him! We have to get him back."

"I'm working as hard as I can," Tensou assured him. "Unless you have a better idea on how to find them."

"Look with your eyes open," Rebecca grumbled, "Tensou, this ship is the size of a Megazord, and you're telling me it's hiding somewhere in the big, blue sky."

"Yes?"

"That's not good enough!" Rebecca smashed her fist in the console and shouted, which made Tensou jump fearfully and he got right back to work.

"I'm so glad you're not one of the usual Rangers," Tensou said softly.

-Megaforce-

Back in the city, in the hospital, Emma was sitting by her mother's bedside. She hadn't even known her mother had left the house, and yet at about six o'clock in the morning she and Vanessa had gotten a call saying her mother had been brought to the hospital with a stab wound.

Fortunately, the doctors were able to save her, but Emma could still feel her heart racing. She had come so close to losing her mother and she didn't even know until it was too late.

"I just got an update from Jake," Vanessa said as she walked into the room. "Rebecca's working Tensou hard to find whoever did this. Whoever's responsible, they're going to pay."

Emma nodded and then lowered her head on the bed. Vanessa stroked her arm comfortingly.

"It looks like this Ranger thing's not over."

"Move," Emma whispered. Vanessa took a step back. Emma shook her head. "I mean sell the house and get as far out of town as you can."

"Emma…"

"It worked for Jordan. I know he's safe. Just pack up and get as far away from here as you can. We can't do this anymore."

"I'm not leaving you girls."

"I don't want to see someone else die," Emma snapped and glared at Vanessa. "When Gia comes back, I'll explain everything. I'll tell her this was my idea. Just get out!"

"Emma…"

"Get my mother transferred to another hospital. Sell the house, or just dump it completely. I don't care. Just leave."

"We want to stay…"

"Joe's already dead!" Emma shouted, "And it's only a matter of time before you follow him."

"Emma…"

"Mom almost died tonight because the two of you want to stay here. You can't do that! You can't be selfish!"

"Emma, if anything happened to you girls…"

"If anything happened to you because of us… Just get out! Leave! Please!"

"We're not moving, Emma. No one likes this, but…"

"I'm moving either way," Emma said. "I'm going to live at the command center. I won't come home. I won't let Gia go home either."

"You can't just…"

"She'll hate me for it, I know, but the less we're around you, the safer you'll be. I'm not coming home. Either you can stay here in the city and risk death, or you can leave and once we stop this new invasion, you can come back safe and sound."

"Emma, you're being ridiculous."

"Those are your choices! Either way, I don't want to know you anymore. Neither of you."

Emma stormed off and slammed the door angrily as she left. Vanessa wanted to go after her but decided against it. She had never seen the pink Ranger this angry before.

As she made the decision to let Emma go, a tear rolled down her cheek, and she tried all she could to convince herself it was just fear talking, and not the little girl she had always loved and cared for.


	9. Rescued

Troy sat in his cell. It was about all he could do. The ceiling was too low for him to stand up straight and the cage was too small for him to lie down.

He started down at his arm. The aliens had done a lot of experiments on him. After blacking out, he woke up to find them looking down on him, almost as though they were conducting a surgical procedure. He hadn't gotten the chance to look for scars but he was sure they had cut into him many times. The Messenger had said he wanted to do some research.

The only visible scar to Troy at this moment was the one on his arm. It had been stitched up and bandaged before he had been thrown into his cage but it was a marking. It was a sign that they were willing to do anything to him just to find out more about the human species.

And they weren't done. While they had locked him away in the cage for the night, they had made it very clear that there was more work they wanted to do. He was in for another day of poking and prodding.

Just then, the top of his cage opened and something was dropped at his feet. He reached for it and saw it was a bowl of… something. Meat, perhaps, but it wasn't recognisable to him. Even with his memory loss he was sure he had never seen anything like it before.

"What's this?" he asked and saw the Messenger had delivered his food personally.

"Dinner," he answered.

"But what is it?" Troy was not afraid to ask questions. He knew they could hurt him but he really couldn't imagine suffering any more than he already was. He was sore, tired, uncomfortable, and scared.

"If I tell you, you won't eat it," the Messenger replied. "But let's just say you aren't the only species to disappoint the Prince."

"You mean I'm eating an alien?"

The Messenger nodded his head, "We don't use all our slaves for work. We've learned some are a better food source."

Troy felt his appetite vanish. For some reason, this felt a lot different that eating the meat he was used to.

"Well?" the Messenger said. "Aren't you going to eat? You know, it's rude to decline a gift. You don't know when you're going to eat again."

Troy didn't want any trouble. He tried to pretend he was eating beef and took a small bite. The meat was too tough for him to chew but he had to pretend to enjoy it. He swallowed what he could and looked up at the Messenger.

"A few more days of experiments," the Messenger promised him. "We just want to be sure we've learned all we can before we invade your planet. We wouldn't want any surprises."

Troy nodded his head and watched as the Messenger walked out.

-Megaforce-

After leaving the hospital, Emma went home to pack her bags. Vanessa likely thought she was just scared and angry after seeing her mother, but Emma was serious. She would not be coming home. She had enough of her mother and Vanessa being in the line of fire simply because they were Ranger mothers. She wanted to do what was best to keep them both safe, and if that meant moving to the command center and not seeing them again until the war was over, she would do it.

She packed her bag with all she would need and then walked into Gia's room. It would likely be considered kidnapping, but once she freed her best friend from the alien spaceship, she wouldn't let Gia leave the command center. It was too dangerous for everyone. Emma packed the essentials for Gia, which included clothing, her stuffed tiger, and her father's old jacket. When she got it all in the bag she teleported to the command center.

She dumped the bags by the wall and then looked to see the others were hard at work trying to find the space ship. She walked up to her console to help. Everyone looked at her.

"How is your mother doing?" Noah asked.

"She'll be fine."

"If you want to be with her…"

"I need to be here," Emma said. "If Noah's right, and I'm sure he is, we have an invasion to worry about. We've got to find those alien freaks, get our friends back, and destroy anything that threatens the Earth."

"I've sent Robo-Knight out to look for any signs of a space craft," Tensou said. "So far I've got nothing back."

"Stupid robots can't track a fucking space ship," Rebecca muttered and Emma noticed she was working at Troy's console. She frowned.

"What are you doing here?"

"I want to help. I know I can help," Rebecca said.

"You understand that the minute something goes wrong, you could be killed, right?"

"Whoa, whoa, no one's dying," Jake put up his hands. "Rebecca's promised to only do what we ask of her. Rangers only boarding the space ship."

"Once we find it," Rebecca glared at Tensou.

"I'm trying," Tensou answered back and then he rolled over to the bags Emma brought. He looked to the pink Ranger, "What's all this?"

"I'm moving out," Emma said. "And if mom and Vanessa know what's good for them, they're leaving town."

"You're moving out?" Noah asked. Emma looked up, nodded her head, and then went back to working on her console. Noah, Jake, and Rebecca all looked to each other curiously.

"Em…"

"Gia and Troy need our help," Emma cut Jake off before he could say anything. "Can we just get to work?"

-Megaforce-

Shortly after dinner was served, Troy saw the door to his prison open and another cage was brought in. The aliens dumped it right next to him. Troy knew what was coming, and wasn't surprised to see Gia being dragging in after that. He was surprised to see her putting up a fight. He had learned it was pointless to fight a long time ago.

"Stop it!" she screamed and pulled back. She tried to get the aliens to let her go. "You can't do this! Don't touch me!"

"Gia!" Troy called and hoped his voice would get her to settle down. He didn't like the cage, but it was better than whatever the aliens would do if he tried to fight it. "Gia, it's okay."

"Let me go!" Gia pleaded to them and dropped to her knees, making it harder for them to pull her along. They literally had to start dragging her across the floor as she screamed and kicked. "Stop it!"

Troy didn't spend a lot of time on the ship with Gia, but there had been times he had seen her and heard her. She was always struggling, always trying to get herself out, and always screaming at the aliens to stop touching her, hurting her, or to let her go. She had so many more scars on her body just from trying to put up a fight, and the more of a pain she was to the aliens; the more they made her hurt.

Finally, the aliens got her into her small cage and locked it. Gia could try putting up a fight now but they simply walked off and left her alone. Troy tried to reach out so she would know he was right there. She pulled away from him as much as she could.

"Stop it!"

"Gia, it's going to be fine. The Messenger said he wasn't going to let us escape again. We got out of here once, we'll do it again."

"How?" Gia asked him and tried to pull on the bars of her cage. "How, Troy? You don't even know if that's your real name? How can you be so sure we're going to get out of here?"

"I just know," he answered.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion. Troy felt himself being shaken around and his cage almost tipped over. The noise, the shouting, and the explosions continued on for a few minutes before the door to the prison was blasted open and the Messenger and what looked like a robot came running inside at once, each with their weapons pointed at each other.

"Release my friends," the robot said to the Messenger, "Or you will be destroyed!"

"Destroyed?" the Messenger chuckled. "You can't stop me. You can't stop this army. This invasion will happen! The Prince will take what is his and Earthlings will be enslaved! Those who resist will be the first to fall."

"Give it your best shot!" Troy heard the robot say and then he watched as both it and the Messenger pulled the trigger on their blasters. The room filled with fire and smoke. Troy made himself as small as possible, which wasn't hard to do in his cage, and hoped for the best. Suddenly, the noise ceased. The smoke was still everywhere, but the blasts were gone. Troy was hopeful that was the end of the Messenger but only if the robot was his rescue.

Then, he heard metal bend and then snap. He couldn't see much through the smoke but he was sure he had seen the shadow of the robot break his cage. Freedom was welcomed as Troy crawled out of the small space and stretched his legs. He was then helped up by the robot.

"Red Ranger, are you okay?"

"Are you talking to me?" Troy asked. The robot nodded his head.

"Oh, I forgot. Tensou mentioned your memories were erased. I am the Robo-Knight; guardian of the Earth and all those who inhabit it. I am also your teammate. A friend."

"Robo-Knight?"

The robot nodded and then snapped the bars on Gia's cage. He pulled her out and then grabbed both of them.

"This ship is going to blow up," he said. "We need to get out of here now. Hold on to me and don't let go."

"Troy…"

"Do what he says, Gia," Troy assured her and he held on to the robot's arm tightly. Suddenly, in a flash of light, the three of them were gone.


	10. The C Word

Noah was tired, and he was sure he was starting to hallucinate after staring at his console for so long, but he swore he heard something. He swore he had heard an explosion outside.

Then he heard it again, and it seemed the others heard it with him. They ran to the entrance of the command center and up in the sky all they could see were fireballs as explosion after explosion went off. Tensou straightened himself out.

"There it is! There's the spaceship! Wait… wait! The Rangers!"

"Oh… shit…" Noah whispered. He knew if that was the ship, there was no hope for Gia and Troy. He had watched the aliens take them into a space ship. He knew they were there. He couldn't believe his eyes.

Then he heard another noise. This one came from behind him. He and the others turned around and looked back inside the command center. Robo-Knight had appeared out of nowhere, and in his arms were the two Rangers who, for a quick moment, Noah believed to be dead.

"Gia! Troy!" he called to them and was about to run, but the others beat him to it. Rebecca shoved him out of the way and jumped into her brother's arms. It seemed she didn't care if he knew her or not. She was so relieved to see him home and safe. She sobbed into his shoulder. Troy was shocked as he took her in his arms. He wasn't sure how to respond but he knew she was upset, he could tell she was scared. He held her.

"Hey, it's okay. Don't… don't cry."

Noah saw the reunion and decided to leave the brother and sister be for a moment. He wanted to go to Gia, but he was almost knocked to the ground as Jake and Emma ran past him and both hugged Gia tightly. The yellow Ranger was also confused, but seemed grateful to be in friendly arms again. She accepted the hugs.

Noah crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at Tensou. The little robot sighed.

"Now you know how I feel," he said.

After the welcomes were made and everyone, including Tensou and Noah, got to hug Troy and Gia, the check-up started. It was easy to see that they had been hurt during their abduction, and Tensou wanted to be sure he knew everything there was to know so he could continue finding a way to restore their memories. When he was done with Gia and Troy themselves, and had only data and test results to study, he let them be in the side room, assuming they would need some time to relax.

Rebecca didn't give them time. As soon as Tensou walked out she walked in. She looked to her brother and this time she was a little more hesitant about hugging him. Troy looked to her. He wasn't exactly sure who she was, but he remembered the way she had tried to go after him when the aliens invaded. He remembered she had put her life in danger to help him. At the very least, just like the robot that had rescued them, she was a friend. He opened his arms, inviting her in. Rebecca hugged him as tight as she could and once again started to sob into his chest.

"I was so scared," she whispered. "The aliens took you and… we looked everywhere for the ship and… The others said we would find it but… I had my doubts. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you too."

"I'm safe now," Troy promised her. Rebecca pulled away and looked him in the eyes.

"What about your memories? You're not… you'll always be my brother, Troy. We can start over but… I want you back. If Tensou can find a way to give you your memories back…"

"How do I know that's who I am?" Troy asked her. "That's the problem… I don't want to be something I'm not."

"I promise you," Rebecca held his hands tightly; "I'm not going to let Tensou change you in anyways. You were going to be the Troy you always were. You just… you have to trust me."

Troy looked to the younger girl and he wasn't sure what to do. In the short time he had known her she hadn't done anything to lose his trust. Hell, she had risked her life for him.

And she seemed harmless enough. Sweet, even. He couldn't tell what exactly it was about her, but he wanted to believe in her. He wanted her to be one of the good guys – his sister. She was someone worth putting his trust in.

"Alright, if… if it's good enough for you, then when Tensou's ready I'll take my memories back."

"You… you will? Really?" her face lit up, and Troy felt happy seeing it. He nodded his head and she flew into his arms again. Troy chuckled. She was definitely innocent enough to be trusted. He put his arms around her and hugged her briefly before he let go and pushed her away.

"I need sleep," he explained when he saw her smile drop. "It's been a rough day."

"Oh… yeah, of course!" Rebecca nodded and backed away from the bed Tensou had set up in the room. There was one for Troy and one for Gia. Rebecca watched as her brother pulled up the blankets and lay down to sleep. She made sure he was comfortable before she walked out.

Moments later, Jake came into the room and he had a bouquet of roses in his hand. He walked past Troy's bed and over to Gia's, where she was sitting up with her knees tucked up to her chest. Jake offered her the flowers. She looked to him.

"What's that for?"

"I was on my way to your place to surprise you with a non-Valentine's Day date when I found out something happened to you," Jake said. "I left the flowers on your porch and I guess the cold killed them. I bought you new ones."

"You bought me flowers?"

"We're kind of a thing," Jake nodded. He already had the flowers in a vase so he set them on the table next to her bed. "You, you know what that means, right?"

"I'm your girlfriend?"

Jake smiled, "More like girl of my dreams, but yeah. We're in love."

Gia smiled back at him and then touched the bouquet, "They're pretty."

"Thanks. I think I like non-Valentine's Day better. Flowers aren't ridiculously expensive."

"What is non-Valentine's Day?" Gia asked him.

"Well, do you know who Cliff is?"

Gia shook her head. Jake felt his smile grow. Her memory loss wasn't ideal, but at least for a little while she would have some peace from him.

"Well," he started his explanation to her, "Valentine's Day is a day of romance. Couples, like you and me, go out on dates and surprise each other with presents that tell each other how much they're in love."

"Sounds… gross. Uh, no offense," Gia said. Jake chuckled.

"Yeah, it's gross when others do it. My parents always used to disgust me on Valentine's Day. Anyways, you don't like it."

"Yeah, I just said it was gross."

"I meant before the memory loss. Emma, your best friend, told me how much you hated it. But I wanted to celebrate anyways, so I was going to surprise you with Valentine's a week early. It's… well, it's kind of just an excuse to make you happy. I really love it when you're happy. Your face always lights up and you start to smile… kind of like you're doing now," Jake said when he noticed the shy grin on her lips and the way her cheeks were turning pink. She tried not to look him in the eyes, nervous about the way she felt around him. Jake put out his hand and softly held hers. "I was going to spoil you tonight so that next weekend, we could celebrate your birthday."

"My birthday?"

"February 17th," he nodded. "It's right after the weekend, and Valentine's Day is on the weekend, so if I tried doing both at once it would all just blend together and… I really want both to be special. I wanted to make really great memories for you for both because you deserve it."

"That's really sweet," Gia smiled.

"I was hoping, if Tensou's not ready to give you your memories back tomorrow, or if you don't want them back just yet, I could take you out," Jake asked her. "If you don't remember it, I could take you to this really great place. You know the Brainfreeze?"

"Sounds like something the Messenger did to me," Gia answered. Jake looked to her curiously so she explained, "The Messenger's the guy who did this."

"That's his name? I've been calling him something else."

"What?"

"I'd rather not repeat it," Jake said and bit his lip. "It would ruin the moment. So, what do you say, are you up for a visit to the Brainfreeze?"

Gia nodded her head. Jake smiled from ear to ear as he leaned in and kissed her forehead.

"Sleep tight, then," he told her. "We're gonna have lots of fun, I promise."

He got off her bed and smile to her one more time before he walked out of the room to let both Rangers rest. As soon as he stepped outside, he bumped into Emma.

"Whoa, hey, Em. If you're going to talk to them, try to keep it short. They're pretty worn out."

Emma shook her head, "No, that's fine."

"Why don't you go back to the hospital?" Jake suggested. "I'm sure, if your mom's up, she'll be glad to hear we got them both back safe and sound and…"

"I'm not going back."

"Why not?"

"Joe's already dead. Vanessa was almost killed in a train accident that Vrak and Metal Alice caused. Mom was stabbed, stabbed, Jake, by aliens because she tried to protect Gia."

"It's what parents do," Jake shrugged his shoulder. "The stabbing part of it. What happened to Mr. and Mrs. Moran is…"

"Not going to happen again. None of it," Emma shook her head. "I'm done with them being involved in this. I'm done with having to worry about whether or not they're safe."

"We all worry, Emma…"

"Well, I'm sick of it. Jordan's where he is, and I know he's okay. I want to know that with mom and Vanessa. I want them to move away."

"You're serious about this? Move away? Have you talked to Gia about… wait, you couldn't have. Emma…"

"Gia and I are moving into the command center."

"You're… Emma, this is insane," Jake shook his head. "Emma, she's got that automatic TV episode memory loss thing."

"Tensou said it's _like_ autobiographical episodic…"

"Whatever. Emma's that rough on anyone! And we only assume she's been abducted by aliens twice! She's had a rough day! You can't just tell her she's moving out? After we give her her memories back, the first thing she's probably going to want to do is see her mom and check up on yours."

"She's not getting her memories back," Emma shrugged her shoulders.

"You can't make that decision for her!" Jake grabbed his hair in his hands. "Emma, that's… you're supposed to be her best friend!"

"I'm sick of losing people. I'm sick of having to worry all the time about the people I care about. I don't like this, Jake, but if it means our moms are safe until this new war is over, I'll do it."

"And Mrs. Moran just agreed with you?"

"That's why I'm moving to the command center. I can't make her do anything, but at least I can stop these monsters from finding out who my family is and going after the people I care about."

"Fine! Do whatever you want, but you can't control Gia this way," Jake shook his head. "You can't force her to stay here. You can't keep her memories."

"I'm doing what's best for my family."

"No, you're doing what's best for yourself!" Jake shouted. "You're controlling her, making decisions for her about what she can and can't do? That's manipulation, it's degrading, and it's disgusting. You're just like him. You're just like Cliff! I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!"

Jake suddenly felt himself being shoved into the wall and then watched as Emma stomped out of the command center angrily. He straightened out his shirt and then caught the looks the others were giving him. He shrugged, "What?"

"I'm not saying Emma didn't need a reality check," Noah started.

"That was cold," Robo-Knight finished.

"And if he's saying it, you know it is," Rebecca added and pointed to Robo-Knight, "Uh, no offense. And thanks again for rescuing my brother."

Jake rolled his eyes, "Look, you guys know I call them as I see them. She was acting like a selfish bitch and…"

"Her mother was just stabbed," Noah interrupted his best friend. "And I think we often forget, the Morans are like parents to her too. She's been through a lot. You could have at least toned it down a bit."

"Yeah. Calling her a selfish bitch would have been shock enough," Rebecca nodded. "No need to throw around the C-word."

"C-word?" Robo-Knight asked. Rebecca shrugged casually.

"Cliff."

"You have some apologizing to do tomorrow," Noah said to the black Ranger.

Jake ran his hand through his hair and then sighed loudly, "I do, don't I?"


	11. A Stupid Comment

Emma had taken her bike from home and rode off into the woods. It was dangerous to be by alone but she couldn't stay at home in case Vanessa decided to stop by from the hospital, and she didn't want to be back at the command center.

Jake's comment had hurt her deeply. Though she had learned in the latest months that her bloodline didn't make her who she was, the fact that she was related to Cliff was still a huge sore for her, and it would continue to be her entire life. Her bond with Gia had always been tight. She had been the weird kid growing up who didn't quite understand why other kids were picking on her and why they all weren't more concerned about keep the Earth clean and beautiful. It got her into trouble sometimes with bullies. Fortunately, Gia was always there to stand up for her. After she gave a few kids, including one teenager, a _lesson_ about how to treat her best friend, the comments were few and far between and Emma felt safe enough to be herself and do the things that made her happy. The high school started and Gia got involved with Cliff. Emma tried all she could to help her best friend, and to stand up for her like she had done in the years before, but she failed every time.

It was her biggest failure to this day. Nothing hurt as much as watching someone she cared about suffer, and being helpless to do anything about it. To learn that she was related by blood to the person who hurt her best friend was an even bigger failure. It always felt like she was letting Gia down.

Emma had learned to block out those feelings. She only had one sibling, and that was Gia. She would deny being a Morris to the end of time in spite of the truth.

For Jake to bring it up, especially at this time, was just mean. She was nothing like Cliff, and would never treat Gia the way Cliff had. She knew it wasn't right to force Gia to live in the command center, but she wasn't doing it out of pleasure. It had barely been a full day since she had made the decision to leave home and she already desperately missed Vanessa and her mother. She was already wondering what they were up to and if they were hoping she would come home. She didn't want to have to leave them, but their safety had to come first. She couldn't risk another hospital visit or another death. Her mother and Vanessa were too involved in the Ranger business. It wasn't safe for them.

She stopped her bike by a big tree and got off it. She leaned the bike against the trunk and then started to make her way down to a small stream on foot. It was frozen because of the cold winter, but Emma still liked to visit it. She took a seat in the snow and just stared at the frozen stream. She tried not to think of it, but Jake's comment played over and over in her head.

"I'm sorry," she suddenly heard his voice and jumped. She looked over her shoulder and noticed him walking up to her, With a huff, she turned back to the stream. Jake sat down.

"I meant bitch," he said. "I mean to call you a selfish, bitch. I just… pronounced it wrong. I shouldn't have mentioned Cliff. If Gia had been there, I'd probably be the one getting my ass kicked."

"Don't bring her up," Emma shook her head. "Just leave her out of this."

"I really am sorry," Jake insisted. "I just… I think you're wrong to keep her out of the loop. If the two of you come to this decision together I'll support it. I'll pick up all your groceries so you never have to worry about bumping into your mothers. But you can't keep her out of the loop. It's just wrong."

"She'll never go for it if she knows," Emma whispered. "I can't… that's a mistake."

"Em…"

"Joe died, and Vrak was no stranger to using Vanessa as bait to get to Gia. My mom got caught up in a few Ranger stuff too. We've been lucky so far, if you can call it that, but… we don't know how long that's going to last."

"I worry too."

"It's different," Emma said. "I thought I knew how it felt to lose a parent when Joe died, and I thought I knew how horrible it felt to see a parent in the hospital but… when I just saw mom laying there, when I hear she had been stabbed and I wasn't sure she was going to make it… how did Gia not flip out?"

"Hey, she flipped," Jake shrugged his shoulders. "Actually, back at the command center, we're all wondering how you're keeping it together so well. Sure, it feels different when it's really your mom on the other end of the attack but it's not like you haven't had your buttons pushed and your fears realized. I guess you're entitled right now to act a little batshit crazy."

"I want to keep them safe, Jake. All of them: mom, Vanessa, and Gia. This is the only thing I can do. Before these new aliens figure out who they are and what they mean to me, I have to make sure they're safe."

"Have a talk with them," Jake said. "Your mom, Vanessa, and Gia. Let them know how you're feeling and why you think this needs to happen. They will listen."

"They won't go for it; moving, I mean," Emma shook her head. "And Gia's never going to want to live at the command center. That's why… that's why I have to do it this way. I just have to leave and Gia needs to stay in the dark about it. It's better this way. She doesn't know who Vanessa is so she won't miss her. Besides, if she doesn't remember anything beyond a few days ago…"

"I know," Jake nodded his head. "Cliff's been wiped from her mind completely. It's great. I mean, in two minutes I managed to pull out a smile that before took me months to earn. But Emma, this isn't right. This is… lying."

"She'll never go for it," Emma said. "I can't… I don't think I can live through any of this again. I can't see my mom get hurt, I can't see Vanessa get hurt, and I can't manage to console Gia if anything happens. I'm done. I just feel completely drained and useless and tired. I can't watch it happen, I can't handle it… I just can't."

"I can help, then," Jake said. "We give Gia her memories back. We have no right to keep them from her. Then you'll sit down with your family and you'll tell them exactly what you told me. And I'll be there."

"You… you will?" Emma looked up at him and asked.

"It really looks like you need this to happen, and you brought up some good points," Jake said. "How about, I make up that stupid Cliff comment by helping you talk to your mom, Mrs. Moran, and Gia? I'll let them know you really need this to happen."

"You'd do that for me?"

"Let us give Gia her memories back and I'll fight for you for whatever you want to do, I promise."

Emma managed a ghost of a smile and then leaned into Jake. He put his arms around her.

"I'm really sorry for what I said," he told her. "If it means anything, I don't really think you're just like him. You're a much better person, especially when it comes to Gia. I'm really sorry."


	12. The Perfect Date

After his talk with Emma, Jake made his way back to the command center so he could take Gia out on the date he promised her. Tensou said it would be a while still before he found a way to give her and Troy their memories back. Jake wasn't going to let anything stop him from having a happy Valentine's Day with his girlfriend, even if she wasn't sure what it was or why he was treating her special.

He took her out to lunch where they talked mostly about him. Gia's memory loss meant she didn't have many stories to tell, but she seemed very interested in listening to him talk. Still, he kept the day about her, and helped her order her favourite meal at the Brainfreeze, and then paid Ernie to make her a special dessert. Ernie could tell that something had happened but Jake explained it as a car accident. It was really all he could come up with to explain the change in behaviour from her memory loss as well as the scars on her face and hands.

After the Brainfreeze, Jake took Gia to the mountains. Mountain Boarding was out of season, but with the snow, Gia could do some snowboarding. Jake rented them each a board and a helmet and they rode down the mountain. Gia was a natural and Jake had a hard time keeping up. The many times he crashed face first into the freezing snow were worth it though because of how much fun Gia was having.

When they were done in the snow, Jake took her to the chalet for hot chocolate and they talked some more. Gia had more to say in this conversation but it was clear to Jake that her memories were still long gone. He would have to wait for Tensou to come up with something if he was ever going to get the old Gia back again.

When they finished with their hot chocolates, Jake ended the date with a slow walk across town. He took a leap of faith by reaching out to hold her hand and was happy to feel her squeezing back. It made him feel special. Though the day was supposed to be all about her and giving her a new, happy memory for Valentine' Day, Jake felt like he was the real winner. Despite everything, he could still feel Gia loved him and it spoke volumes.

They were getting to the other end of town, where Jake would teleport back to the command center to put an end to their date, when he saw a familiar face. He noticed his mother angrily ripping up a piece of paper she had found on her car's windshield. He looked to Gia and then back to his mother.

"Stay here," he told the yellow Ranger and let go of her hand. He approached his mother and she tossed the ripped pieces of paper on the sidewalk, "Mom?"

"Jake?" his mother turned in his direction and smiled when she saw her son. She pulled him in for a tight hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Just… running some errands," Jake briefly glanced over to where Gia was seated on the curb, waiting for him to come back. He didn't want his mother to know he was with her. He didn't want her to take advantage of Gia's condition. "What's going on?"

His mother rolled her eyes, "Another damn parking ticket. I just had to run inside the store for five minutes."

"There's a parking lot a couple streets down," Jake told her. "Why couldn't you walk it? The exercise is…"

"I don't want to walk, Jake," his mother said. "I just wanted to get some bread so I could have something to eat for dinner. I don't feel like taking a damn hike just to get some stupid bread!"

"Okay, but you can't park your car here…"

"I should be allowed to park it wherever I want," his mother growled and then took a deep breathe. Jake could tell she was trying to calm down so he gave her a hug. He figured she needed it.

"Is everything okay, mom?"

"No," she shook her head. "I'm divorced and widowed in less than a year," she shoved her groceries bags into the back seat of her car. "As if that's not bad enough, I run into that horrible girlfriend of yours…"

"Mom…"

"And then just a few hours later, Noah chews me out for trying to be a mother!"

"Noah chewed you out?"

"I bumped into the bitch," his mother nodded her head. "She was completely disrespectful when she talked to me, acting like she didn't know me."

"Uh, mom…"

"I asked her about you, just nicely, you know, because we never talk, and she pretends she has no idea who you are! I told you, Jacob! I told you she was trouble!"

"Mom, when did this happen?"

"Just the other night. And then Noah called me a bitch later! For no good reason! I've got to say, Jake, I knew your girlfriend was trouble, but if your best friend is going to defend her, you've really got to find yourself a new…"

"Mom, Gia was in an accident the other day," Jake said. "She wasn't pretending she didn't know me. She really didn't. Her memory was affected and… she didn't break my heart."

"Now she's coming up with ridiculous stories…"

"Mom, it's true. She doesn't even know who she is. We had to tell her. She still doesn't have her memories back."

"You want to believe it's true…"

"It is true," Jake clenched his fists. "Mom, why can't you just be happy for me?"

"Do you know what she's done to the other boys she's been involved with?"

"Of course I do!"

"And that advice she gave me about moving out! It got my husband killed! If I had just stayed home I could have stopped him drinking…"

"That's what Rebecca tried to do. She tried to stop him and she got beat for it! Gia saved you from dying with him."

"I'd rather!" Mrs. Holling screamed. "Because of that little whore, I've lost everything! I lost your father, I lost you, and I lost Carl! Everyone I love is leaving me because that little bitch won't leave you the hell alone!"

"Mom!"

"You know what, Jake, just save it. If you want to ruin your life…"

"I'm the happiest I've ever been," Jake told her. "I love her. I love the life I have. The only thing that would make it perfect right now is if you decided to be a mom instead of a bitch!"

"Jacob!"

"You ruined your life! You do realize, mom, that you're at war with a kid, right? And she's coming out of this looking a lot better than you."

"I am your mother, Jacob! You will not speak to me this way!"

"Then stop crapping on the girl I love!" Jake shouted. "She's done nothing to hurt you! Stop acting like a child and… grow up, mom."

Jake turned around and walked back over to Gia. He tried to calm himself down before he helped her up. Once she was on her feet he tried to hold her hand and tell her they were going to take another road home when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw his mother had followed him.

"Mom..." he wanted to say something but felt Gia squeeze his hand not out of love, but fear. He turned to her and saw her looking at her mother in a panic. He remembered his mother saying they had had a run in already, but there was no reason for Gia to fear his mother.

Unless there was. He silenced his mother, who looked like she wanted to say something, and pulled Gia aside.

"Do you know her?"

Gia nodded her head. "Troy and I bumped into her on the street. She got really mad."

"How mad?"

"She was yelling, screaming, slapping…"

"Slapping? Who?"

"Me," Gia said. "She scratched me, too. She sprayed something in Troy's eyes too when he tried to help."

"She hurt you?"

Gia pointed to her cheek, where two scratch marks still remained from her encounter with his mother. Jake frowned deeply.

"I thought that happened during the…"

"She did it," Gia shook her head. "They hardly touched my face."

"She did it?" Jake pointed to his mother. "She yelled at you, slapped you, and cut your face."

"Scratched. I don't know what I did…"

"Nothing," Jake kissed her forehead. "I'll talk to her, okay? We'll get this sorted."

He told her to stay where she was standing and then walked back to his mother. He cut her off before she could say anything.

"What are those marks on her face?"

His mother shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know."

"Did you and Gia fight?"

"Look, whatever she said, she's lying. I didn't do anything to her."

"What are those scratches on her face, mom."

"Maybe she got them in that _'accident'_."

"Just once," Jake growled, "can you be nice enough to own up to your mistakes mom and just tell me the truth about those scratches."

"She's lying to you."

"About what? What is she lying about?"

"The scratches. I didn't hurt her…"

"Did you yell at her?"

"Of course. She's a bitch."

"Did you slap her?"

"No."

"Did you spray something in Troy's eyes?"

"He came at me," his mother pulled out her can of pepper spray. "I was protecting myself."

"Did you scratch Gia? Did you attack my girlfriend?"

"No."

"Don't lie to me."

"Jacob, I did not do anything to that girl," Mrs. Holling pointed straight at Gia. "You're the one hurting my son! You think you've got him wrapped around your finger, but I raised a smart boy! I hope he breaks your heart!"

"Don't talk to her, mom," Jake shoved his mother down the sidewalk. "Go back home. Go make your sandwich or whatever you're having for dinner."

"Don't come crying to me, Jacob, when she ruins you!"

"Don't worry, I won't," Jake shook his head and then turned his back on his mother and pulled a frightful looking Gia into his arms. He heard his mother get into her car, slam the door, and drive off. He kissed the top of Gia's head when his mother was gone.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "You didn't deserve that."

"I don't want to hurt you," Gia looked up at him tearfully. He wiped the tears away and smiled.

"You can't. She's just a little psycho."

"Isn't she your mother?"

"No."

"She said she was. I thought…"

"She's been lying a lot, lately," Jake said. "She was my mother once, but… not anymore."

"Because of me?"

"No. Sometimes, shit happens. How about we forget about this little encounter, go home, and just relax for the rest of the day? How does that sound?"

"Perfect," Gia smiled.


	13. Memories

"Ta-da!" Tensou said as he held up what looked like a bike helmet to the five teenagers in the room. None of them seemed impressed, and Emma had half a mind to check her bag to make sure Tensou hadn't stolen her helmet.

"What's that?" Troy asked.

"You slave away for a week, and this is the thanks you get," Tensou shook his head and sighed. "It'll restore yours and Gia's memories!"

"Are you sure?" Troy took the helmet an inspected it. "It… it doesn't look…"

"I can guarantee it'll work," Tensou promised as he took the helmet back. "I've programmed all of yours and Gia's memories into it. All you'll have to do it put it on, nap for a couple of hours, and when you wake up, you'll be good as new… or old."

"You're sure it's going to work?" Noah asked skeptically. "It's not that I don't trust you, Tensou, it's just… that doesn't look very fancy and if something goes wrong, we're talking about their brains."

"I fixed Jake's head."

"Barely," Gia chuckled and looked up at her boyfriend. Jake frowned but put his arms around her lovingly.

It had been a mixed week since Troy and Gia had escaped the Messenger. The Rangers knew there was an invasion coming but figured Robo-Knight destroying the Messenger and his army had delayed the danger for a little while longer. It gave them a little time to prepare for their second turn as the Megaforce Rangers, and it also gave Tensou some time to build a machine that would restore Gia and Troy back to their usual selves.

For the most part, it was quite obvious there was a memory loss for the red and yellow Rangers. The fact that they had completely forgotten who they were meant their personalities were somewhat different from what the others were used to. Troy was usually very quiet and reserved, and spoke only when he had something really important to say. Perhaps it was just the boredom of living in a cave for a week, but he had started to socialize a lot more with all the Rangers, and when they did have a fun night, he was one of the teens having the most fun. When Rebecca brought her IPod and speakers from home to play some music, Troy was the first one up to dance and the last one to leave the dance floor that night. And he danced with all the girls.

And because he hadn't been told outright that he was the red Ranger and the leader of the team, Troy looked as though he felt weightless. For about a week, he didn't have the weight of the world and the responsibility of his team on his shoulders. He was just a regular teenage boy looking for a good time with his friends. It was enough to make Jake, Noah, and Emma jealous that they hadn't had their lives stolen from them. A week without having to worry about being a Ranger, and forgetting about all the hard times it brought sounded like exactly what they needed.

For Gia, the experience was very much the same. Without her memories as the yellow Ranger, she didn't need to think or worry about Vrak. She couldn't remember all he had done to try and hurt her, and couldn't remember that her father had been murdered by her clone as one of Vrak's big, evil plans. She couldn't even remember the year she spent as Cliff's girlfriend and all the misery that brought her. As a result, she was more open with her friends, and quick to trust them and have a good time. Though there wasn't much about her that the Rangers needed to learn, they could all tell that if this had been the Gia they met a year ago, it wouldn't have taken months to get to know her as well as they did now.

Jake, especially, saw a lot of benefits in his relationship with her. Normally he was the one to initiate hugs, kisses, or cuddles, and Gia would stop him when she felt uncomfortable. In this week, Gia had taken his hand, kissed him passionately in front of the others while they were having their dance party, and even invited him out on the dance floor for a good time.

Their walls were down. They were having fun. Seeing Tensou had the cure to that was bittersweet. On the one hand, they would be back to themselves; back to the people they were meant to be. On the other hand, their lives hadn't been easy.

"So, who wants to go first," Tensou said. "I only made one of these, so only one of you at a time. Any volunteers?"

Troy and Gia looked to each other. They had been excited for this moment, and dreading it at the same time. They were curious to find out who they were, and what their real lives were like. They were also quite nervous about whether or not their friends could be trusted. Though they had been treated well, and they had had a good time in the last week, neither of them had forgotten that they had no way to tell if this was all for real, of if this was some big scam.

"I'll do it," Troy said and put the helmet on his head. He didn't exactly want to be the test dummy, though Tensou did promise it would work, but he wouldn't feel right letting Gia take the risk. He felt that if this was for the worst, Gia would be able to realize it quickly and find a way to get out before she too could get hurt.

"Chivalrous," Noah smirked and turned to Jake. The black Ranger frowned.

"Hey, I'd have totally gone first if that were me," he said. "But I have all my memories so this would just be stupid."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Gia asked. Troy nodded his head. Tensou made sure the helmet was secure and then instructed him to lie down.

"You'll pass out," the little robot said. "If all goes well, you shouldn't feel a thing."

"If?" Rebecca asked.

"I'll be fine," Troy assured his sister with a gentle smile. "Alright, Tensou, start her up."

Tensou connected the helmet to a small device he was holding in his hand. Troy started to feel tired for a bit before he was completely knocked out. Rebecca pulled up a chair and sat beside him nervously while the others all waited for news.

The first hour passed and it was nerve-wracking for everyone. Troy was fast asleep and every few minutes Tensou would reassure the team that the program was working well. By the end of the second hour, they were all growing impatient.

"I have a question," Gia asked and looked to Tensou, "Are we going to remember this?"

"Yeah," Tensou nodded his head. "I give memories, I don't take them away."

"Don't you want to remember this week?" Emma asked her. Gia shrugged her shoulders. She wasn't sure what she wanted. She would have to wait to find out what happened to Troy before she made her final decision. She had had a lot of fun during the week and she could sense that getting her memories back wasn't as joyful for everyone as it should have been. She could tell something was up, especially with the way Jake was holding her hand and Emma was looking to her.

Finally, the machine stopped. Tensou gently removed the helmet and Troy started to open his eyes. He looked straight up at the ceiling and then blinked a few times. Rebecca stood over him.

"Troy?"

"Yeah?"

"What colour uniform do you wear?"

"Red," Troy sat up slowly and looked to his friends. He smiled, "I'm back, guys. It's me."

"Yes!" Rebecca smiled and threw her arms around her brother. "You're back! It's you!"

"Sorry you had to go through that, Becca," Troy whispered in her ear as he held her tight. With his memories back, he couldn't forget how much his little sister had been through lately. Between their father beating her up, calling her a bad daughter, and drinking himself to death, him losing his memory had to be the last thing she needed. Just for her, it felt good to be back.

"Don't worry about it. Just never do that again," Rebecca smiled and pulled away so the others could greet him. Tensou, meanwhile, took the helmet and rolled it over to Gia. He held it up to her.

"Are you ready?" he asked. She took the helmet in her hand and looked to Troy. It seemed like this was for the best. He remembered who he was and by the looks of it, he felt like he was back in his old life. He seemed happy to be back.

"It's safe, Gia," Troy assured her when he saw her looking at the helmet nervously. "You're in good hands, it doesn't hurt, and it feels great to be back in my old life again."

"Though I do miss dancing Troy," Rebecca said. "You have to promise me you'll let loose a little more often."

"I second that," Jake nodded and pat Troy on the back. "You were awesome."

"I'll see what I can do," Troy said. "But we've got something else to worry about before that happens. The Messenger, he kept talking about an invasion. Something big is coming. I really think my dreams were right."

"Yep, he's back," Emma sighed and then she turned to Gia, "So, are you going to put on the helmet? Do you want to get your memories back?"

Gia looked down at the helmet again and then up at her friends. Though she wanted to find out who she was she couldn't help but notice the way the helmet had change Troy. He seemed happy to be back, but already he had lost the expression of pure joy and bliss. It seemed the years of memories were weighing down on him and he was already speaking of danger and fighting aliens and preparing for something big and bad that was on its way.

She also couldn't forget or ignore the looks she had been getting from Jake and Emma throughout the week. And how, sometimes when they thought she was resting, they would whisper about how she seemed so much happier now, and so much more free without the memories of her life holding her back. A big part of her was curious to find out what they meant, but an even bigger part was telling her that ignorance was bliss.

She shook her head and gave the helmet back to Tensou, "I'm good."

"Gia…?"

"I don't want this," Gia said and then walked into the side room. The other Rangers looked to each other in shock and silence until Jake's eyes met Emma's. She noticed the way he was looking at her and scoffed.

"What?"

"Did you…?"

"No! I know I acted like a bitch before but you were right. I didn't tell her to do this."

"Then why won't she take her memories back?"

"I'll try talking to her," Troy stood up and the room fell silent as he walked to the door. He knocked gently before he made his way inside.

He found Gia sitting on the bed, just staring at her hands. He joined her and sat quietly for a moment, waiting for her to say something first. He was relieved when it didn't take long for her to talk.

"It can't be worth it."

"We had a good week," Troy told her. "It was nice, for once, not to have to worry about what was going to happen. It was nice to leave everything behind for a while and just be free."

"You must not have gotten the stares or heard them whispering…"

"I know what they were whispering about. I know who you are, Gia," Troy took in a deep breath and then he held her hand softly. "We were by the beach when this happened. You called me over because you wanted to talk about something. Our lives are a bit of a mess right now and I can understand if you don't want to go back to it but… you have to."

"Give me one good reason why. Give me one thing I can have with my memories that I can't have without them."

"Your life. Your history. The thing that makes you who you are, and the thing that makes you special."

"You don't see the looks…"

"They aren't giving you the right looks," Troy shook his head. "They're your friends. Obviously they're worried about you. You lived a life, Gia. You had some bad times. What friends wouldn't want you to forget those and just live carefree?"

"Those bad times…"

"I won't tell you, and if I could, I'd take them all away too."

"So then why do I have to do that stupid helmet thing…?"

"My life isn't easy either. I wish I could be the person I was without my memories more often. I'm going to miss that but… it's not worth losing everything. My memories of my friends, my family, and all the good things I've done to this point. We had a good time, Gia, and I hope one day we can learn to enjoy ourselves like that again but… that's not who we are meant to be."

"I just… I have this feeling it's going to be really bad."

"As bad as not knowing? As bad as spending the rest of your life wondering who you really are? I get it, Gia. I get it's scary. I mean, for aliens to abduct us and use us for research, we had to have gotten ourselves into a lot of trouble. We had to have been involved with some of the wrong people or something. I thought about all of that before I got my memories back. I was so scared I was going to hate myself."

Troy looked her right in the eyes and smiled, "But it's worth it. There is no one I would rather be than myself. All the bad memories, just like the good ones, made me who I am today. They're going to do the same for you."

"I can't get that without my memories, can I?"

"You can live in bliss," Troy nodded his head. "You can do this for what, another week? A month? It's not going to be real happiness. And besides, it's not like we'll never be able to go back to that place. I know, one day, we'll be that happy again. But if you choose to let everything go… you're going to lose everything."

"So you're saying take them?"

"Take your memories back. If they're really as bad as you think they are, we'll all be here to help you settle into them again."

"You already know, don't you?"

"Take them back."

Gia nodded her head, took a deep breath, and then walked to the main room. Troy sighed a breath of relief as he followed her out.


	14. Let Go

Since being stabbed, Claire had spent a few days in the hospital. Fortunately she hadn't lost too much blood by the time the ambulance showed up, and the doctors were able to get to her quickly. She had a scar in her abdomen which would be there for the rest of her life, but she doing well. She was very sore, but doing well.

It had been a while since she had seen anyone except for Vanessa. She had been told that Emma had been by her side at the beginning, but then Vanessa explained the meltdown Emma seemed to have. The pink Ranger had begged for the two women to move out of town. As soon as Claire heard that, she knew she needed to talk to her daughter, to reassure her that everything would be fine. Being a Ranger meant Emma had seen some pretty horrible things, and had to experience some pretty horrible situations, but it had to be scary to see her mother in that state and being helpless to do anything.

So Claire tried to call her daughter. And she tried, and tried, and tried until she filled up Emma's voicemail with messages pleading she return her calls and then pleading she come home. Claire assumed Emma was safe at the command center with the other Rangers, sure she would have been told otherwise, but she couldn't help worry for her daughter.

On the day just after the most depressing Valentine's Day of her life, Claire heard the sweet sound of the front door open and the girls' voice calling to her and Vanessa that they were home. Claire was slow to get up because of her still healing stab wound, but Vanessa bolted across the house and took her daughter in her arms. She instantly began to sob.

"Gia…"

"It's me, mom," Gia smiled. This only seemed to make Claire cry even more, but they were happy tears. The last time they had been together, Gia hadn't recognized her. Even when Vanessa outright told her daughter that she was her mother, there had been no emotion. Now, just by looking in her eyes, Vanessa could tell she had her daughter back.

Claire finally made it to the front hallway. As soon as she did, Gia gingerly moved in closer and hugged her. Claire smiled as she embraced the yellow Ranger.

"How are you doing?"

"Thank you," Gia whispered in response.

"I'd do it again," Claire chuckled. "I'm just sorry I let you down. Did the aliens hurt you?"

"Yeah," Gia nodded. "But we got out."

"Do you know what they wanted?"

"That's what we're here to talk about," Emma said. Claire looked to her daughter and reached out for a hug but Emma didn't move in closer. She didn't move to either Claire or Vanessa, but stayed by the door with Jake, who had come home with the girls. "Can we talk in the living room?"

The five of them moved the couches and took a seat. Emma looked down at her hands and played with them nervously, unsure of how to start the conversation until a nudge from Jake prompted her to just come out with it.

"I really want you to move," she said. Vanessa looked worried. Claire's eyes started to tear and Gia looked shocked.

"Emma…"

"We've got to be Rangers again. There's no avoiding that. Robo-Knight destroyed the Messenger and all the aliens that kidnapped Gia and Troy but there's more to come. A whole Armada is coming to invade our planet and, just like with Vrak and Malkor, we're going to try and stop them."

"So then what's this moving nonsense?" Gia asked. She knew she was coming home to do more than just see her mother and Claire. She knew Emma had something important to discuss, but she didn't think it would be this. "Emma, the Messenger isn't just invading Harwood. He said they were going to take the planet. Anywhere we move…"

"They're obviously going to start here," Emma said. "They're coming here first and we're going to try and stop them. That means this is going to get messy, just like last time."

"And just like last time…"

"I don't want to have to worry about you two all the time," Emma said to her mother and Vanessa. "It's too much. I don't want this new threat to know who you are and come after you. I don't want to have to worry about whether you're both safe, or if these aliens are going to try and use you against me. It was too much last time and… my life is just going to be a lot easier if you both just got out of the way."

"We're not leaving," Claire shook her head. "Emma…"

"I can't be the pink Ranger again and worry about you all the time," Emma said. "I'm sorry, mom. Even if you don't want to do this, I'm moving to the command center. I don't want our newest big bad to know there's even the slightest relationship between us."

"You're moving to the command center?" Gia frowned. "Emma, do you know how ridiculous you sound? What's that going to solve?"

"Do you remember how Joe died?" Emma replied. "If your parents hadn't been around us and the Rangers then that never would have happened."

"Don't go there!"

"Emma, we're not moving," Vanessa tried to switch seats so she was closer to Emma, but the pink Ranger jumped up and moved away. "I'm happy where I am. I hate this constant danger but I'd much rather live through it and see you girls everyday than move."

"If I could," Jake raised his hand slightly, "Emma and I have talked about this and… this is really important for her. I know we're all under a lot of stress and… she honestly can't handle it."

"Butt out, Jake," Gia snapped, clearly on the defensive from Emma's comment about her father. It was a sore spot for her still.

"Emma doesn't want to see anything happen to you. She hates this as much as all of you but… I think it would be for the best if we put some space between personal lives and Ranger lives."

"But moving away? Emma, sweetheart, I just came back. I…"

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you, mom," Emma said and then pointed to her mother's stomach, "but if that happens again, we're not going to get that chance."

"I…"

"You were stabbed in the stomach to protect Gia! You can't stop yourselves. You can't help but get involved and it's going to get you both killed! I know you can't imagine losing us but I can't imagine losing you. I can do this pink Ranger thing again. I can come out of this alive, I know I can, but not if I'm always more worried about you than I am about me."

"Is this really what you want?" Claire got to her feet and walked up to her daughter. She held her arms softly. "Do you really want me to move?"

"No," Emma shook her head, "But I need you too. Just until we stop the Armada and the world is safe again."

"Do you promise you'll stay safe?" Claire asked. "You'll look out for your teammates and you'll let them look out for you? Do you promise you won't do anything stupid?"

"I promise. I promise, I'll come home, mom. I just… I can't stay with you. If whoever's coming decides to play like Vrak and if he's even worse than Vrak … I can't have you around. I don't want to lose you."

"If you ever change your mind, you come find me," Claire held her daughter. "When I find a place, I'll tell Jordan the address and the phone number. If you ever want to come over, if you ever want to come home, or even if you just want to talk, I'm available. Day or night, even if it's just to say hello at three AM."

"Thank you," Emma hugged her mother with all she had, knowing it would be the last hug for a long time, but she was determined not to make it forever. When she could finally will herself to break it up, she turned to Vanessa with tears in her eyes. "Are you…?"

"I guess I can't stop you leaving," Vanessa shook her head and hugged the pink Ranger. "Just promise me you'll be safe."

"I will. And thank you, Vanessa, for everything."

"My pleasure," Vanessa smiled and kissed the top of her head before she let go. Emma then turned to Gia, who was curled up on the couch, visibly upset.

"I know I can't force you to do anything, Gia."

"Do you really think this is going to fix anything?"

"Some things, maybe. I know not having to worry about our moms is going to make things a little easier. They're going to be safe, Gia, and we're going to see them again. It's just… not for a long time."

"And what if I don't want this?"

"You can do what you want, Gia. It's just, after what happened to Joe, and then the train accident and now mom being stabbed. Enough is enough. We can't focus on saving the world if we're always worried about them."

"It's okay, Gia," Vanessa knelt before her daughter and looked to her with a bright but sad smile. "I'll be watching you every day, every battle. I'll be with you in spirit. And just like Claire said, if you ever need me, no matter what the hour is, no matter what you want to talk about, I'll be available."

"You'll give Jordan your information?"

"All of it. You can do this, Gia. You don't need me anymore. Not if all I'm doing is holding you back."

"You're not holding me back…"

"I believe in you, and I believe it's time to see what you can accomplish on your own. Whether that's saving the world or just… growing up," Vanessa got to her feet and moved to the end table by the couch. She picked up a box and gave it to Gia, "Happy birthday."

Gia took the box in her hand and opened it. She pulled out a heart shaped silver necklace. On the rim of the heart she noticed her date of birth.

"Your father and I had that made a couple of days after you were born," Vanessa smiled. "We always planned to give it to you when you turned eighteen. I… um, I added a little something at the back."

Gia turned the necklace around. At the back, again, printed in very small letters on the rim there was something engraved. Gia read it with a smile, "Go get 'em, Tigger."

"I'm always here, but I never want to hold you back. If you think you can do a better job as the yellow Ranger without having to worry about me, I'll move with Claire. You just need to promise me you'll come home."

Gia nodded her head. She clutched the necklace tight in her hand and hugged her mother.

"Stay safe. I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too, sweetheart."

Emma looked to her mother with teary eyes, "I'll see you soon."

"I'll be around," Claire promised.


End file.
